Never been Kissed
by Kirara
Summary: Here it goes: Kagome and her family have moved to Tokyo for Kagome. She is trying to escape her past but the past just won't go away. An accident in her family complicates her life even more. Her wish? living a normal life. RR! .
1. The new Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha!! Geeze!!  
  
  
  
  
  
K, I really felt like writing a school story for Inu-Yasha. I have yet to write a fic about them actually back in the past but, I'll get around to it eventually.when I feel like it.  
  
k. The school Kagome goes to is the exact copy of the old Jr. High school I went to before they tore it down and put up the new one. Another thing: Her math teacher is just like my math teacher: Mr. Quan. I'm sorry, Mr. Quan, if you are reading this (which I really doubt) but.grow up.  
  
This is another A/U fic and it takes place at SCHOOL! Of course it won't only take place at school because that would tell you all that none of the characters have a life! So.enjoy!  
  
* * * ~*Kagome POV*~  
  
I looked up at the red-bricked building and then glanced at the sign that glistened in the sun.  
  
Yup. This was the school. My new school.  
  
Shikon High.  
  
I couldn't suppress the pit of doubt in my stomach, despite all of the encouraging words from my old friends and my family. I suppose my biggest fear was perfectly normal.  
  
What if they don't like me? What if they HATE me?? What if my TeAcHeRs HATE me??? O.O What if I get lost and can't find my way to my classes? Will they laugh at me?  
  
At that point, a bus pulled up behind me, to drop off students.  
  
I hurried out of the way, not wanting to be trampled on my first day of school and hurried up the steps to the office.  
  
"H-hello?" I timidly asked the person at the office desk. It sounded like I had a fricken cotton ball in my throat.  
  
The attendant looked up and smiled.  
  
"Yes, dear? What can I do for you?"  
  
"I-I'm new here." I covered up my nervousness with a false, cheesy smile. "Are you miss Higurashi?"  
  
"Who? Oh! Yes, I am."  
  
Smooth move, Kagome. You don't even remember your own last name!  
  
"Here is your timetable, and let me nab somebody from the halls who can show you around.ah! SANGO!! SANGO I NEED YOUR HELP!!"  
  
"Hai, Mrs. Ono?"  
  
"Sango, meet Kagome Higurashi. She's a new student. I believe you two may have similar schedules so I would appreciate it if you showed her around."  
  
"Sure!" Sango replied, then to me, "Let me see you timetable. I want to see how many classes we have together."  
  
I put on a real smile and handed her the card. She went over it quickly as I looked over her shoulder.  
  
1st Math Mr. Kinoshita  
  
2nd P.E. Mr. Sukegawa  
  
3rd S.S Mrs. Kaede  
  
4th Science Mr. Myoga  
  
5th cooking Ms. Nakashima  
  
6th L.A. Ms. Yamaoto  
  
"Hey!" Sango exclaimed, "We have math, P.E, Science, and cooking together!" "I can't cook! You do not want me in your kitchen!!" I warned her with a horrified look on my face. My last experience in the kitchen was a disaster. Let's just say that mom had to repaint the kitchen, the fire truck showed up, and Buyo ,my cat, won't eat fish any more.  
  
Sango smiled kindly at me, "I'll see if I can be your partner. I'll help you out."  
  
"Sango!!" We turned to see four smiling girls walking towards us.  
  
"Oh hey you guys! This is Kagome."  
  
They smiled at me and introduced themselves as Sayori, Minami, Yumi and Haruna.  
  
These people smile here A LOT it seems.  
  
"So.what are my teachers like?" I wanted to know.  
  
"She has Kinoshita...first period." Sango told the girls, and they all groaned.  
  
Oh great. A bummer teacher. First period too.  
  
"What's he like." I said it more like a statement instead of a question.  
  
"He's really, REALLY boring." Yumi informed me.  
  
"And annoying."  
  
"And stupid."  
  
"And he makes terrible jokes."  
  
"So you really don't wake up until 2nd period."  
  
"And it appears that you get a jumpstart cause you have Gym second period."  
  
"With me."  
  
"And me!"  
  
"And, like, everybody."  
  
"Mr. Sukegawa is a no mercy gym teacher. He works you hard!"  
  
I hoped Minami was joking.  
  
"Wow! You guys make my head spin! Did you practice that speech or something??" @.@  
  
I couldn't believe these girls.  
  
"Not exactly practiced and rehearsed."  
  
"But they did something like this when I moved in."  
  
"You'll catch on!"  
  
"I never did." A male voice snorted from behind us.  
  
"Miroku-sama!!" the girls exclaimed.  
  
"Thanks for not surprising us." Sango muttered.  
  
I raised her eyebrows in question. I am most certainly glade he didn't surprise us, cause I probably would have jumped a meter into the air and completely embarrassed myself.  
  
"Watch your butt." Yumi was, I think, trying to answer my confusion.  
  
Unfortunately, it only confused me more.  
  
"MY BUTT???" I was beginning to think that they were all mad.  
  
All five girls nodded wisely at me and then Haruna screeched. I heard a *SLAP* as Haruna whirled around.  
  
Miroku stood up with a huge grin on his face as well as a large red mark on his cheek.  
  
"Wha.what did he DO to you???" I have never seen a boy behave like that before.  
  
"He gave me a.massage."  
  
"Mass.age.??" I felt the blood drain from my face. They aren't mad here, they're down right insane!!  
  
"He has an obsession with female butts."  
  
I felt like passing out.  
  
"I take it you've never met a guy like that?" Sango asked with a small grin.  
  
My eyes glazed and I shook my head.  
  
"I'm just one of a kind!" Miroku exclaimed.  
  
"I hope your kind goes extinct soon!" Haruna fired at him. He ignored her.  
  
"So, who's your new friend?" He asked the rest of the small group.  
  
"This is Kagome." Yumi told him.  
  
"Kagome! Welcome to Shikon High! My name is Miroku."  
  
"May I call you Hentai? Or does Mr. Letch sound better?" I quipped.  
  
Miroku ran over to me and put his hand over her mouth.  
  
"SHhhh!! We have a teacher here called Mr. Letch! No joke! I'm serious!! So watch it when you tease about things like that. He could be anywhere!!"  
  
"YOU shouldn't act like that then." Minami told him off.  
  
"Kindly remove your hand from my mouth." my muffled voice penetrated from beneath his hand, "and while you're at it, remove you hand from my rear." I snarled.  
  
Miroku's hand shot back to its proper place: beside him.  
  
*BRINGGGG!!!!*  
  
"Oh! That's the first bell!" Yumi exclaimed.  
  
"Come on Kagome!" Sango grabbed my hand and yanked me off to math.  
  
Miroku followed.  
  
* * *  
  
~*Authors POV*~  
  
*BRRRIINNGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!*  
  
The tardy bell rung and Mr. Kinoshita stood up from behind his desk and addressed the class.  
  
"Gooooooood Morning!!!" he said in that voice that you would you when you spoke to a two year old.  
  
Silence.  
  
He ignored the silence.  
  
"I.would like to welcome..KAGOME HIGURASHI!!!!!" He said it like a game show. Kinda sad.  
  
"Please come up to the front of the room!" he pretended to have a microphone in his hand.  
  
'He is too old to be that stupid.' she thought dully, 'but the girls did warn me.--'  
  
She stood up from her desk next to Sango and made her way up to him. She ignored predatory looks from the guys that she was getting.  
  
"Would you like to say a little bit about your self? And you know, Aye (yes, he said Aye instead of I) don't mean like, where you're from, I mean what do you like to do? Who do you live with?"  
  
'What is this? Kindergarten??' she thought but she gave him what he wanted.  
  
"K. My name is Kagome Higurashi. I live with my Mom, brother and my Grandpa. Oh. And my cat Buyo too. I read a lot and I do a lot of studying but most of my time is spent with my friends. We used to shop, or run around in the park seeing who could run the fastest but what we did the most..was soccer! My nickname was The Wind." She smiled at the memory, "They voted me most valuable player three years in a row."  
  
"The Wind?" came a sarcastic female voice.  
  
"Yea." She responded, "My team and the guys on the sidelines gave it to me." "Why?" same sarcastic voice.  
  
"Cause I was the fastest on the team and I was really strong. That was the team part. But the boy's wanted it because they said I was really gentle and pretty.like the wind."  
  
"Can I go back to my seat now?" she asked the teacher.  
  
"Yes.Kagome (dramatically said) you may!!"  
  
Kagome quickly made her way back to the back of the room next to Sango. "He scares me!!" she whispered fiercely to Sango.  
  
"I think he scares everyone here.." she muttered back.  
  
"Aaaaaallllllllllll righty!! Today , clllllaaaaaaaasss, we are going to talk about....PAWWWWWSITIVE AND NEGATIVE NUMBERSSSS!!!!!!!"  
  
Kagome sat there looking completely freaked.  
  
"Is this natural human behavior?" she asked Sango who shook her head so much that Kagome was amazed that she could still see straight.  
  
"Look at these numbers:"  
  
+10 + +5 -10 + -5 +10 + -5 -10 + +5  
  
"Here is a BRILLIANT IDEA!! Write down all the numbers first and THEN add the pllussssse and ..the minus signs!!"  
  
"No shit Sherlock!" Kagome muttered under her breath.  
  
The back corner that she sat in, which consisted of Sango, Miroku, Haruna and another boy named Tadashi started to laugh but then tried to disguise it by sneezing.  
  
"Puleeeese try to stop the sneeze! We don't want any..GERMS floating around here!"  
  
'Good lord," thought Kagome.  
  
They wrote down the four equations their own way and then sat back and whispered.  
  
"I'm Tadashi!" He quietly introduced himself, "You said you're good at soccer? Will you join the school team then? We REALLY need you! Our girls are good but I've seen them at practice. I fear for our first game."  
  
"Tadashi! Give us a chance!!" Haruna hissed.  
  
"We're on the team too!" Sango winked.  
  
"And so is Minami," Haruna told her.  
  
"I'd love to join!" Kagome exclaimed, "as long as I can keep up with school, then you can count me in!"  
  
Miroku's face lit up, "I'll cheer you guys on!!" he exclaimed.  
  
"You're only doing that because Kagome's gonna play." Sango muttered. "Do I detect jealousy, Sango-chan?" Haruna teased.  
  
Sango blushed and looked away while muttering at Haruna to mind her own business.  
  
* * *  
  
~*Kagome's POV*~  
  
*BRRRRINGGGGGGGG!!*  
  
The class exploded out of their trance and the bell released them from math.  
  
"He can't be for real." I literally rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.  
  
Sango snatched my hand. My guess was that she didn't want to lose me in the halls. It was like two currents and the direction we wanted to go in was on the other side of the hall.  
  
"Everybody has Gym second period!" she exclaimed.  
  
"urr.what do you mean by everybody?" I pictured the entire school squashed in the gym trying to play basketball.  
  
"I mean Yumi, Minami, Haruna, Miroku, Sayori, Tadashi and I!"  
  
"OoOoOoOoh my gosh!~," Haruna caught up to us, "there is this guy in our gym class who is sOoOoOo H.O.T!!"  
  
We managed to cross through the current.  
  
"What? Oh. Yea." Sango seemed to know who she was going to start babbling about.  
  
"His name is Kouga! He is so good at everything we have done in class!!"  
  
"Haruna.we've been at school for.2 weeks! All we've done is tennis! Maybe that's all he's good at, mind you he did come in 2nd place." Sango reminded her friend.  
  
"2ND??? HE WAS THE BEST!!!"  
  
"Inuyasha beat him, remember?"  
  
"Oh yea.Inuyasha's as hot as Kouga but he's not as social."  
  
"He needs to get a better girlfriend." Sango's face turned dark as they reached the gym.  
  
"So what are we doing in class today?" I asked. You see, I really didn't CARE who was hot and who wasn't. If they can do sports, then they are cool enough for me.  
  
"Excuse me!"  
  
I was pushed aside from the gym doors. I glared up at the person who had pushed me and then blinked. She looked just like me! Only more..bitchy.I then looked up at the guy standing next to her and.just...Whoa! He has GORGEOUS hair!! I really wish I could grow mine like that!! I then I got a mental image of myself in poofy long black hair and then grimaced. How about no.  
  
"Did you HEAR me??" The Bitch asked me with annoyance.  
  
"It's not Halloween you know, but great witch costume!" I gave The Bitch the thumbs up sign and then grabbed Sango and pushed past The Bitch, who was standing in shock. I assume that no one had the nerve had dissed her to her face in years. Haruna hurried to the change rooms but Sango struggled free from my grasp and then started stuttering an apology for me.  
  
Unbelievable!  
  
"Please Kikyo!!! S-she's new here!! Don't do anything!!"  
  
The Bitch smirked.  
  
"I'd like to hear an apology from HER."  
  
Oh please. I'm not going to take any crap from some idiot who thinks she's queen of the school. Of course, if she were queen of anything it would be queen of the dead.  
  
"If I felt like apologizing, then I would have." I glared. "You pushed me."  
  
Kikyo (The Bitch) looked like the only brain cell left in her head was going to explode.  
  
"Inuyasha!!" she turned to the boy she was standing next to and whined at him. "DO something!!!" she wailed.  
  
"Kikyo, we're going to be late for class so if you want keep this battle going then that's fine with me but I'm going to go change."  
  
I looked at the clock and noticed that we really needed to hurry.  
  
I turned to her. "Look, if you're sorry for bumping into me and acting like my superior then I'm sorry for calling you a witch." I turned around and Sango got the hint that we were finished and took me to the change rooms. Kikyo showed up about 15 seconds after us. The two of them changed into their gym uniform (gray t-shirt, black shorts) and because I didn't have any, Sango tossed me an extra shirt of hers.  
  
"Just till you get one of your own."  
  
And then she passed me a pair of black shorts. We left the girls room through an opposite door to the gym. Haruna, Minami, Yumi, Miroku, Sayori, and Tadashi all came running up to us.  
  
"Did you guys actually diss Kikyo??" Yumi looked like she had just seen the moon explode. "Tadashi said he heard something!"  
  
"But no..you guys don't believe ME. Hmph!" he looked playfully betrayed, as if he didn't mind.  
  
News travels fast around here.  
  
"So what if I did? She had no right to push me so I called her a witch."  
  
"OoOoOoh!! Kikyo is gonna kill you for that!"  
  
Is it just me or is everybody a sissy here? This Kikyo person had better find something more spectacular to do to me other than whine to her boyfriend.  
  
I looked at Haruna.  
  
"Not if I can help it."  
  
The bell for class to start rang.  
  
This class didn't seem to have any particular order to it so I just stood around with my new friends like everybody else.  
  
Just then, a man walked out of the boys' locker rooms with a clipboard in his hand. I assumed that was our gym teacher, Mr. Sukegawa. He did attendance by calling the names. I looked around when he called 'Okami, Kouga' and saw a muscular guy with hair pulled back in a ponytail.  
  
Ok, what is with guys and long hair at this school?  
  
He came down the list, past 'Shi, Kikyo' *snort*. (In Japanese, Shi means Die so in English, Kikyo's name would be Kikyo Die!!! ^_^ Big thanx to Chibiukyo for providing the translation!~) till the last person. Then he looked up at the rest of us. Yes, he seemed like a strict teacher who didn't take 'I walk to school. Isn't that enough exercise?' from lazy people.  
  
"Is Higurashi, Kagome here? Kagome?"  
  
I raised my hand.  
  
"Kagome, I would like you to know that this is a class that makes you EXCERSIZE. I don't want to see any lying about. The punishment for not doing your best is 45 push ups and it increases by 10 every time."  
  
I gulped. I couldn't do 5 consecutive push ups to save my life.  
  
"Class please start with your warm ups."  
  
I followed the class warm up routine as best as I could and then we were given instructions to go out to the football field were the track equipment was.  
  
I followed the group of girls outside and the boy Inuyasha seemed to make his way to me. How odd. No.He was coming to me. ME! Not Kikyo.hmm..  
  
"Hey, I wanted to apologize for Kikyo's behavior earlier."  
  
Oh Please.  
  
"Thanx but if Kikyo wanted to apologize, then she would do it herself."  
  
Obviously.  
  
"I don't think you understand. Kikyo would drown herself before she apologized to anyone. I'M just saying sorry for the way she treated you."  
  
I decided to make the best of it. I didn't feel like making another enemy especially as he hadn't done anything. I mean, he didn't support me but that's only natural, as he didn't know me.  
  
I looked up at him a gave him a winning smile (or so I hoped), "Thanx for taking the time to apologize. I accept, even though you did nothing to offend me earlier!"  
  
^^ He blinked, turned red, and then muttered something about having to go out to the track courts.or the track.track thingy.@.@  
  
Yea.  
  
Right.  
  
Whatever.  
  
^^  
  
I caught up to Sango as we passed the 'West Hall'. She and Minami were already asking me what Inuyasha had to say to me before I was even beside them. So news doesn't just.travel fast.people WANT it to travel fast.  
  
"So what did Inuyasha have to say to you?"  
  
"He didn't say anything mean to you did he?"  
  
"I mean, it wasn't telling you to stay out of Kikyo's way was it?"  
  
"Will the two of you SHUT UP!!!!!" I blurted.  
  
The girls here just talked WAY too much.  
  
Suddenly they were silent and both of them looked like they were mentally kicking themselves for not giving me a chance to speak.  
  
"Ok." I breathed. "He was merely apologizing for Kikyo's behavior earlier. He seemed like.he owed it to me. And he also said that Kikyo would drown before she apologized to anyone so he decided to do it for her."  
  
The two of them stopped in their tracks.  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"I-I-I-Inuyasha.apologized to you??" Minami managed to stutter.  
  
"Inuyasha doesn't apologize. Just like Kikyo." Sango and Minami wore identical expressions of shock. We started walking again.  
  
"Well he acted like he felt he owed it to me and maybe it was because I'm new and I don't know 'the rules' yet but he did it sincerely and I'm not going to think anything of it." I finished firmly.  
  
I noticed the two of them look at each other with suspicion written in neon lettering all over their faces but I ignored it.  
  
Whatever.  
  
"Ok!" Mr. Sukegawa hollered to the class, "I would like you all to get in to groups of two. This person will be your track event partner. When you have chosen your partner, I would like the two of you to come up to me and get this sheet," he waved it around for everyone to see, "and then you may begin. I don't want too many line-ups so spread yourselves apart. Begin!"  
  
I instantly looked around for Sango but right when I saw her, the boy, Kouga, blocked my view. I blinked and realized that he was looking at me.  
  
"Kouga-kun, will you be my partner?" a girl twittered.  
  
"Sorry," he put on a brave face, "but I already have a partner!"  
  
The girl pouted.  
  
He had better not be thinking what I think he's thinking.  
  
He smiled at me.  
  
Damn.  
  
"Come on, Kagome! Let's go and get.our partner sheet!" He grinned stupidly at me.  
  
Ew.  
  
"I already have a partner, SANGO!" I yelled desperately for help.  
  
"Coming, Kagome-chan!" She wore that annoying 'I'm-only-saving-you-because- you're-new-ok?' look but I suppose I was still grateful. He was an annoying boy that claimed me like a lost penny. Grr.  
  
"Come on, Sango. Let's go get our partner sheet." I said with as much ice in my voice as I could muster. Sango shivered but Kouga seemed unfazed by it.  
  
Crap.  
  
"Sango, what makes you think that you can just come up and steal my partner?" Kouga challenged.  
  
Nani? He actually thinks that I left him REGRETFULLY???? HELPPPPP!!!! I decided that ignoring him would be best.  
  
"I said COME ON Sango! We don't want to be caught doing nothing and then be forced to do the push-ups, do we?"  
  
This seemed to spur her on.  
  
But not Kouga.  
  
Now I know why Sango didn't talk about him with fondness in her voice. Why Haruna did, I may never know.  
  
"Listen Kouga," I spat his name, "Go and get yourself another partner, OK??!!"  
  
I glanced over at another quarreling couple and noticed that Inuyasha seemed to be having a tough time with Kikyo. But isn't Kikyo his girlfriend?  
  
@.@  
  
"Listen Kikyo, I have a partner already!! MIROKU!!!!"  
  
Miroku and Tadashi both looked up.  
  
I don't think it was just me but I think Miroku's eyes took on a special light when he looked at Kikyo.  
  
GROSS.  
  
"Miroku's my partner, Kikyo!" He winked several times at the scowling Miroku, who seemed disappointed that he didn't get to partner up with Kikyo. He looked like he was about to protest when Inuyasha cracked his knuckles several times. Miroku gulped and played along.  
  
"But who'll my partner be?" Tadashi complained.  
  
I decided to do him a 'favour'. I dragged Kouga over to them and then shoved him Tadashi's way. I saw Tadashi grimace and then he shoved Kouga in Kikyo's direction. Oh well.  
  
"Come on, Kikyo. Take a break from me, ok?" Inuyasha smiled kindly at her. How could he? How could anyone smile kindly at her?  
  
Kikyo pouted, nodded, and then clutched onto Kouga's arm. The two of them walked up to get their partner sheet. (well, I suppose Kouga kinda wobbled up there from being pushed around)  
  
"That still doesn't put me with anybody." Tadashi pointed out.  
  
"Sorry for making this class have an odd number." I mumbled.  
  
"Don't worry about it," he smiled at me, "I'll go and ask if Miroku, Inuyasha, and I can be a threesome."  
  
Well, to make a long story short, they became a threesome and all of us endured doing running long jump, shot put, high jump, standing long jump, and relay races for 45 minutes.  
  
* * *  
  
My muscles groaned as I passed Sango's shirt and shorts back to her and slid on my bell-bottoms. We had worked hard out there.  
  
"Which class is next?" I wondered out loud as I pulled out my timetable. Sango peered over my shoulder.  
  
"Social Studies, eh? We're studying Pac Rim right now. China."  
  
"Yay." I cheered unenthusiastically.  
  
"I have Science." Sango looked happy.  
  
We left the change rooms and Sango showed me the way to my S.S. class and then left for the science building.  
  
I glanced around the room to see if I knew anybody. Oh great. This would happen to me. Kikyo. Dearest, sweet, QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD Kikyo.  
  
I decided to try and get a seat far, far away from her. I walked up to the teacher's desk and introduced myself to the withered old lady sitting behind it.  
  
"Hello, are you," I glanced at my timetable, "Mrs. Kaede?"  
  
The old lady looked up from her computer and smiled at me.  
  
"I am, are you Kagome Higurashi?"  
  
I smiled back and nodded in response.  
  
"I'm afraid that the only empty seat that I have is the one in the back corner." She pointed. I thanked her and made my way to the back of the room. Kikyo was on the other side of the room. Thank you Lord!  
  
~*Authors POV*~  
  
Mrs. Kaede started up the lesson in explaining the culture in China and Kagome, like the rest of the students, found herself fighting to stay awake. Mrs. Kaede wasn't boring like Mr. Kinoshita, but she had her own way of lulling the class to sleep. When she passed out the work sheet, the students unzipped their pencil pouches and took out a pencil and eraser and busily got to work.  
  
Mrs. Kaede sat down at her computer and did whatever teachers do at their computers.  
  
Apparently they read mail.  
  
"Class!" She called out, at about one minute to the bell, "I would like to announce that we will be having a new student join us tomorrow. His name is Naraku."  
  
The name even sent chills up everyone's spine and from the back corner of the class, a gasp escaped from the lips of a very pale Kagome.  
  
* * *  
  
NYAHAHAHAHA!! So.I'll ask u all what I ask at the first chapter of all of my fics: did u like it? ^^ Please review with your comments and constructive criticism! I accept no flames!! So if you flame me, then basically I will laugh at you and ignore it. Please *deep breath* reviewreviewreviewreview!!!  
  
-Noodals =^.^= 


	2. Guess who's backback again

Disclaimer: I don't own...ANYTHING!! NOT ANYTHING AT ALL!!! *SOBB~!*  
  
  
  
  
  
All eyes followed the sound of my voice and traced it back to me. I felt the colour return to my cheeks in the form of a blush. Suddenly someone snorted.  
"Awwwww! Is widdle Kagome afraid of the name Naraku?"   
I glared at Kikyo hard. She flinched but smirked back.  
"Leave her alone, Kikyo! Just because you don't have a life or any friends, doesn't mean that you have to ruin hers!" a voice (male) spoke up.  
There was a round of 'OoOoOoOoO, Kikyo got burnnnnned!!! TSSSsssss...!' from the class mates and then the bell rang. I left the classroom with out a backward glance and looked at my schedule to see what I had next. Lunch (!).   
Sango caught up to me to show me to the cafeteria. I wondered whether to tell her about my dilemma. I wasn't sure, as I was new here...but I needed to tell someone. Suddenly I realized what my life was going to return to: Hell.   
I hate him.  
I hate his name, I hate his old house, I hate his new house (even though I don't know where he's living yet), I hate his money, I hate his STUPID baboon pelt that hangs in his room (that I 'accidentally' *not* spilt coke on to), I hate his dad (his mom mysteriously died), I hate his dog, I hate his fish, I hate his rat, I hate his posters, I hate his bed, I hate his TV, I hate his game systems and I HATE the way he LOOKS LIKE A FRICKEN GIRL ...Basically I hate everything about him. I. Hate. Naraku. And he was coming back into my life.   
Before I knew it, I felt the tears weld up into my eyes. I brushed them away before anyone could see but (just my luck) Sango noticed.  
"Kagome! What's wrong? Did they tease you in S.S? I'll bet it was Kikyo! I told you not to do anything to her! She would get you back in the end. Don't even think about getting her back because she'll get you back even harder next time!"  
"Sango! Calm down!"  
"Well then, what's wrong????"   
I didn't want her to get involved...which probably means I should tell her to just...leave me alone.   
"Sango, I need to tell you something...private..."  
"What? Do you already have a boyfriend??"  
"...WHAT???"   
What is wrong with people here??  
"Good. You're sensible! Now...let's go to the girls room. No one is there during lunch."   
I followed her to the washrooms in the main building. She was right: it was completely empty.   
"Now, what is it??" she demanded.  
I took a deep breath.   
"There's a new guy coming here, to this school. His name is Naraku...he's...he's followed me here." I paused to find out where to start to tell her about him but she took my pause as an 'I have finished'.  
"So...you know him...and it doesn't sound like you're friends."  
"No, I hate him with-a-passion! But I used to be his girlfriend. Not his first though. He goes for the good-looking and according to his books, I'm good looking."  
"Well, you're not terrible looking. I mean all of the guys in math already have a crush on you!"  
Thanks Sango.  
"But to go with that, I'm smart, sportive, and fun to be with." I ticked them off my fingers as I recalled him trying to flatter me.  
"I'm also 'sexy'" I quoted.  
"I'm sure you are too. I mean I don't know you very well but-"   
"SANGO!!"  
"Sorry!" she squeaked.  
"The thing is that he is the bully of the school, with all of 'daddy's money' and basically, he gets everything he wants. Almost any girl at my old school would want to be in my position because they were all fluff and no brain and only cared that he had money. As soon as he asked me to be his girlfriend, my life changed. I said 'no' but that didn't matter, because he doesn't take 'no' for an answer."  
At this point Sango looked thoroughly disgusted.  
"And he...is coming to our school...?"  
"Yup. So basically, let's go have lunch together, because it'll be the last one we have together until he finds someone else who is smarter, prettier, and more sportive than me."  
Sango suddenly looked wistful, "Pity that Kikyo isn't any of those..."  
"She's gonna have her authority around the school threatened. But what can she actually do? I'm still waiting."  
"She's a big rumor spreader. Anyways, if she's smart, she'll suck up to him and he'll be smart to take her in and dump you-"  
"I've already dumped him 20 times."   
"Hear me out. And then Inuyasha will see the light and ask you to be his girlfriend, and then you'll say 'yes' and he'll be a social guy again. At the end of my happy story, Naraku takes Kikyo back to his old house and Shikon high can breath freely again!"  
"I'm so glad you're world is perfect. Mine's hell. Have a nice day."   
Sango sighed, "You're right...let's go have lunch."  
"Wait. As soon as he comes in here again, he's not gonna let me be with you guys."  
"So? Just stick around with us anyways. What's he gonna do to us?"  
"He's not like Kikyo. He's got guys that follow him and all he has to do is snap his fingers and if you're standing up for me, you're gonna end up in the dirt."  
"Physical is he? Well then...Inuyasha's got some background with that kind of stuff...and Miroku knows the basics. Your Naraku sound sort of like Kikyo, in a way. Inuyasha moved here about a year ago and he met us first and he thought we were cool but Kikyo thought he was cool too. She always wins and gets her way...well, until this morning when she spoke to you."  
"Will you keep Inuyasha out of this? I'm tired of hearing his name!"  
"But he is a really cool guy! We'd really like it if you could try to show him that his world doesn't have to just be Kikyo. In fact, it would be nice if you could help him see that Kikyo is nothing."  
"Look. I don't want to get more people involved in this issue than necessary. I'll go boy chasing after my life's mess is cleaned up, ok? Now, let's go get some lunch before Haruna comes to find us."  
"You mean Miroku, don't you?"  
"B-b-but...this is a GIRLS bathroom."  
Sango shook her head at me.  
"Do you think Miroku cares?"  
I stared. This guy has no limits. Dear Lord.   
I opened the bathroom door and a shriek escaped my lips.  
"Oh, I'm sorry...did we startle you?"  
It appears that Miroku and Tadashi were eaves dropping from behind the door.   
"Sango, dear, how could you say that I couldn't care that it was a girls bathroom? Of course I care! That's why I only listened from the door!"  
"We were only wondering why you didn't show up at lunch!" Tadashi grinned.  
"Uh huh...and you just happened to come to this girls bathroom...right..." Sango and I were very disbelieving.  
"Anyhow," Miroku waved the affair away as if it was nothing, "we happened to overhear your problem. From start to finish."  
"You guys didn't have lunch either!" I accused.  
"Well fine then...we saw Kagome with a not-so-cheerful tear in her eye and wanted to know what was wrong. We do have our limits which is why we didn't follow you two into the bathroom." Tadashi impatiently explained.  
"So we merely pressed our ears against the door."   
Sango and I were both just kind of "......"  
"So, you want some help with your boy problem, do you?" Tadashi started to think hard.  
"No, actually, I don't. I just want to make sure that my problem doesn't become yours. I don't want you guys to get hurt." I corrected.   
"Tough luck, girl, cause you're getting our help." Miroku shook his head.  
Tadashi turned to Sango, "And why does Inuyasha get first dibs on her? Why can't I?"  
That does it.  
"NO ONE get any 'dibs' on me, OK?? What I'm TRYING to do is make Naraku see that!"  
There was a muttered 'whoops...' from Tadashi and I decided to finish this up.  
"Lunch time." I declared. I stomped away from the bathroom. I then stopped and ran back to them and grabbed Sango by the arm.  
"Where's the cafeteria..." I started to drag her away from the boys and she started to lead me in the complete opposite direction that I was going to head in.  
  
***  
  
Sango showed me the way to the science classroom after lunch and then headed off for her fourth period class.  
As I walked into the science classroom, I looked around for familiar faces. None except for that Inuyasha guy.   
"Are you Kagome H?"   
I looked at Mr. Myoga and nodded.  
"Please sit in the middle row, next to the boy with long, black hair." He politely instructed me.   
I nodded again and looked at that boy with long black hair.   
Guess who.   
Inuyasha looked up at me and then skooched his huge pile of stuff off of the other half of the table that I was going to sit at. I smiled in response and then sat down and as soon as my butt hit the chair, my mind zipped back to Naraku. I knew I had to fight back but he was rich and had boys that followed him that would be registering to this school, at the latest, in a week. Big whoop. At the moment I felt like a star who was trying to run away from the circus. It just doesn't happen. And when you try to quit, it refuses your resignation. It sucks. (oh, excuse me, nothing sucks, it pulls...lol). Then I thought of the two girls that hung around Naraku. Kanna and Kagura. Kanna's like a spy or something. She's so quiet and small that no one suspects that she's up to something. Kagura just has an attitude. I don't know how they're related to Naraku (maybe cousins or something) but they seem to exist only to come to Naraku's every beck and call. And I hate them too.   
  
Mr. Myoga explained to us that because we were finishing up on density, we were going to wrap it up by doing a project on it by making balloons with tissue paper. He basically spent the entire period telling us how we were going to do it. We would be picking partners tomorrow. What fun...not...the only person that I knew was Inuyasha. Just my luck.  
  
***  
  
After a demo on how to make cinnamon rolls, my cooking teacher, Ms. Nakashima, stood up to give us some dreaded news.  
"First off, I would like to announce that tomorrow we will be making the cinnamon rolls that I was demonstrating today and so I hope that you all were paying attention! (there was an 'oh, crap' from Inuyasha) Second, I would like to announce that we will be having a new student join us!"  
The pit in my stomach grew into a hole.   
"His name is Hibara, Naraku. I hope you'll all make him feel welcome!"   
"He'll make everyone make him feel welcome." I muttered to Sango. Yumi and Sayori looked at me curiously.  
I was getting sick of Ms. Nakashima and her 'Everything-is-bright-sunny-and-wonderful~!' attitude. If a volcano erupted, and everyone around it died, she's probably just say that the spirit of the earth need to get some fresh air. I was very relieved when the bell excused us to our 6th period class.  
Miroku met me outside of class.  
"Shall I lead you to our last class of the day?" he bowed politely.  
"We have L.A. together?"  
"Yup!"   
"Alrighty then. Lead the way......and watch your hands!"   
His hand zipped back next to him.   
"I'm gonna handcuff you someday..." I threatened.   
We stepped into the classroom and Miroku...galloped I guess...up to Ms. Yamamoto and bowed low.  
"May I present to you: Higurashi, Kagome!" He said gallantly.  
She giggled (yes, she giggled) at him and then said I could sit next to him if I wanted. What could I do? He was the only person I knew in the class and plus he was already half dragging me to his desk anyways. I dropped my very thin binder down onto the desk next to him.   
"How about I introduce you to the people who are full of fluff and no brain!"   
"How about no...they'll all hate me for Naraku anyways as of tomorrow."  
"Good point. So about this Naraku guy..."  
"Just...don't talk about him."  
"Okaaaaayy..."  
"Did you know that he tastes like an eel?"   
"You've KISSED him???" .   
I stared at him, "Do you think I've had a choice??"  
"...No, I guess...why don't I at least tell you the names of the girls over there?"  
"Fine."  
"That's Shizuko over there with Yuki, there's Sachiko, and Hanae and Hihumi are the twin girls over there."  
"Not very many."  
"Nope, but they're all stupid and nosey at the same time."  
"Stupid and nosey isn't a very good combo..."   
"Nope."  
"But if they're nosey, then why aren't they coming over to find out who I am?"  
"Cause I'm here."  
"Ah...that explains everything."  
"Sachiko has a nice butt."  
"I'll bet you said that to her face."  
"Yup...but only after she slapped me."  
"You are so sad."  
"It's just a hobby."  
I cannot believe him.  
"A hobby?? You don't have an obsession with female butts for a hobby! It's just...not right!!" I exclaimed.  
"I know."  
That wasn't quite the answer I expected.  
But, the bell rung and so I counted down the minutes until we were released.  
  
***  
  
I found out that Sango only lives about a block away from me. We walked home together and I introduced her to my mom when we arrived at my house.  
"Kagome! I'm so glad that you've made so many friends so fast but did you have to bring one of them home when you know that the house is still a mess?"  
I rolled my eyes, "What's Sango gonna do? Publish pictures? We were just on our way home and so I decided to introduce you guys."  
"I really don't care what state the house is in, Mrs. Higurashi. My room is definitely worse." Sango observed.  
My mom smiled, "I'd offer you two a snack but there really isn't anything in the house just yet."  
"Don't worry about it! I've got to get home to do my homework anyways!" Sango smiled.   
"See you tomorrow, then!" I showed her to the door.  
I then hopped up to my new bedroom that overlooked the street, and did my tiny amount of math homework.  
  
***  
  
*BLEEEEEEEEEEEP!*  
  
  
  
  
*BLEEEEEEEEEEEP!*  
  
  
  
  
*BLEEEEEEEEEEEP!*  
  
  
  
  
*BLEEEEE-*  
SMASH~!  
  
"friggen alarm clock..." I muttered sleepily as I rolled over. The morning came too soon...  
Suddenly-  
"MERRRRRRROWWW!" My cat, Buyo, jumped up onto my bed and then decided that my head was the perfect spot to clean his feet.   
Cheers.   
"You STUPID CAT!! I'm just trying to get a few more minutes of NEEDED sleep!!! GEEZ!!" I snarled as I practically threw my cat off of my head and on to the floor. Buyo obviously though that was unfair, as he had just been dragged half way across the country on an airplane because of me and just wanted to borrow my head to clean his feet. Tough. As I tried to get some more sleep, a damn bird started telling its life story to my window. As if my window could care. After getting up to open my window, and then telling the bird to fricken shut up (with much nastier language) I realized that the world had something against me and I wasn't likely to sleep anymore this morning. I went out into the hall and practically bulldozed my brother.   
"Souta! What are you doing up at this ungodly hour called 6 o'clock in the morning? Get back into bed, you lucky pest."  
"I wasn't d-doing anything!" He replied with a sheepish grin as he tried to hide the horn that he was about to bring into my room.  
"Right. Get back to bed before I choke you with that instrument." I ordered. He scurried back into his room and I continued for the bathroom to wash my grouchy face.  
Great. A Bleeping alarm clock, a drowning cat, a choking bird, and my oh-so-loving brother was about to add his horn. I checked outside after I came out of the bathroom to make sure that the band wasn't waiting to ambush me when I left for school.  
  
***  
  
After eating a rather big breakfast and guzzling down a cup of coffee, I felt much better.  
Amazing what a cup of coffee can do to the non-early risers.   
However, when the doorbell rang unexpectedly, my mom nearly had to call the roof repairmen to fix the hole that my head nearly made in the ceiling.   
Meaning that I jumped about 20 feet.   
It was probably the band...  
I went to answer it.  
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WAN-Sango? What's up??"  
"I was just going to walk with you to school." She said innocently.  
I have a slight nagging feeling that Sango won't want to be doing that again any time soon...  
"damn early risers." I muttered before saying that I just had to brush my teeth.  
Sango waited patiently in the doorway for me to tie my shoes up and then we left to walk the four blocks to school.  
  
After the 3rd block I really started to pay attention to this black Mercedes that seemed to be going up and down the same street that we were on. I got a really bad feeling that we were being followed by someone named-  
"Kagome-chan is it just me or is that car-"   
"Yes, Sango, it's following us...me..."   
"How do we ditch it?"  
"I'm thinking...but you know the route to school much better than I do..."  
We finally got to a curve in the road. There were still houses lining along the street but at the very end of the street, you turn right and there's the school property. I just got a risky plan that involved going into a stranger's backyard, a fence, and jumping. Sango seemed to have come up with the same idea.  
"It's risky but the next time that car passes us and turns the corner-"  
"We run into that house's back yard because it looks like it would be the easiest and we jump the fence onto the school property, am I right?" I interrupted.  
"You are! Let's do it!"  
As the car drove by us and then turned right at the end of the road to the direction of the school, we dashed to the gate of the house that had the fence that we were going to jump. Lucky for us, the gate was hidden behind a bush so we were able to hide while we found the latch. Little did we know that the car was finished following us and was stopping at the school. Too bad for us.   
"I got the latch!" I exclaimed in a whisper.  
I eased the gate door open and slid inside. Sango followed me in and shut the door silently behind us. She checked her watch, "we have 15 minutes till the tardy bell: Plenty of time!"   
"Good. Now what are the chances that the person who lives here is going to look out of the window when we run across his yard?" I asked her.  
"Not much."  
"Oh crap."  
"What now??"  
"Just our luck. They have a dog. A very big and mean looking dog. And the only reason that it hasn't let the people who live here know we're here is because it's getting over it's shock that someone is in it's back yard."  
"What kind of dog is it?" Sango pushed past me to look around the corner of the house.  
"Run." She stated simply.  
We took off across the yard and the dog seemed to have realized that it was supposed to scare us and took off behind us, barking and snarling something awful. I felt it snapping at my heels and I ran even faster.   
"Who idea was it to use this back yard anyways??" I squealed franticly.  
"Ours!! And by the way, it's a German Shepard that's following us."  
Brilliant. Just how I wanted to start my morning. No sleep, almost paying a bill for the roof, getting followed to school, and now getting chased by a huge dog with a temper. Although I have to say that it's better than Naraku any day.  
I leapt for the fence and scampered up to the top. I suddenly heard this 'KA-CHINK!' as the chain leach that it was apparently attached to was pulled taut.   
"It was on...a chain...?" I nearly fell off the fence as I found out that there was still about 10 feet between the dog and the fence.   
"Never doing this backyard again." Sango panted. We hopped down and charged up the hill to the school.  
We were met by Miroku at our lockers.  
"What happened to you?"   
I looked at the mirror in Sango's locker and noticed that there wasn't really anything wrong with my hair because it's bushy and I wore it down today but Sango definitely had more than a few hairs that managed to work their way out of her pony tail elastic.   
"Long story." Sango stated simply.  
Before either of us knew what was happening, Miroku put his hand on Sango's head (you thought I was gonna say butt didn't you ^^) and yanked out her elastic. Then he snatched up the hairbrush lying in her locker and whipped her hair back up almost perfectly.   
Sango blinked, "Thanks..."   
"Sure thing!" Miroku grinned.  
As they got lost in their own little world (I have sneaking suspicions that, that was what Miroku was looking for...) I saw Inuyasha round the corner in the halls with Kikyo tightly latched onto his arm like a leech. He looked up from talking to her and our eyes met. We both quickly looked away and at that moment a very familiar, calm, cold voice spoke from behind me.  
"Kagome! It's so nice to see you again." And a chill ran up and down my spine as a hand ran down it.  
Miroku and Sango looked up from their flirting and their smiles dissolved as they saw the face of the creepy guy behind me. Inuyasha's eyes turned hard and Kikyo looked up and stared first at me and then at the face that was already breathing down my neck.  
He's back...  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~*SHOUT OUTS!!*~  
  
Not very many shout outs but if anyone has any questions, then I will be happy to answer them under this section or, u could just leave me your e-mail addy. K? ^__^  
  
Momori: Thanx 4 being the first to review dis fic~! I luv yours and u had better keep the bloopers up!  
  
Weirdo C: Hi there! *ahem* wow....you guessed it...Kagome DOES already know Naraku. Lol ^^  
  
Twin Star of Suzaku: *ahem* You're smart too. Lol. ^_________^  
  
Tenshineko: Thanx for letting me know that 'Shi' means death instead ^^ My friend Momori told me that after I posted but I was hopping that no one would notice...(darn) If u notice any other...mistakes...feel free to let me know~! ^.~  
  
Guess who I am: Urr...do you mind if I call u that until u tell me who u are? ^^ I have to say that I'm not surprised that u fell asleep in his class. But I have him 5th and I sit next 2 the most annoying boy in our class, so it's hard to fall asleep. ^___^ last thing, thanx 4 pointing out that I changed the fact that Sango and Kagome had science together ^^ I was changing it around off of the comp. so I guess I forgot 2 check. ^^  
  
  
  
Please R+R!!  
  
=^.^= 


	3. The Second Day is Always the Worst

Disclaimer: Why don't you believe me? I don't own Inuyasha!! I'm broke! (and NOT because I spent all my money on him ^^)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Never been Kissed: The second day is always the worst  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
~*Kagome's P.O.V*~  
  
I hate his hands.  
No really, I hate his hands.  
And it doesn't help that after stroking my spine, they wrapped themselves around my waist. THEN he brought his creepy head right down next to mine and rested it on my shoulder.  
"I've missed you Kagome..." Naraku murmured into my ear.  
I shuddered inwardly but tried as best as I could to put on a brave face.  
"I'm. So. Glad. To. Hear. That." I said like a messed up machine.   
While he was inhaling the scent of my hair and causing people to whisper (I mean, I AM new here and everyone knew that, so wouldn't it be weird to you if you saw the new girl with a new guy at the school acting like loved ones? Not that I was acting like I knew him or anything...), my hands rapidly worked the dial on my locker. I practically ripped my old and battered locker off the wall as I wrenched the door open.  
Where was my schedule when I needed it??  
Why couldn't I remember my first period class??  
"What are you looking for?" Naraku asked smoothly.  
*cringe*   
"My timetabe- ah! Here it is!" I thankfully whipped it out.  
Math.  
Drat.  
*Sigh*...I wasn't quick enough to stop him from grabbing my schedule. He held it up high while he memorized it and because he is quite a bit taller than I am, I didn't even try to take it back until he was ready to give it back. I just stood there with irritation showing obviously, on my face.  
"I'll see you in gym, social studies, and cooking. Wonderful." He seemed satisfied that the school had put us in enough classes together. As if they did it on purpose.  
Maybe I can blow him up in cooking...of course with my skills, the fire truck will show up before the end of the class and the paramedics will have to unstick us from the ceiling. I mean, we ARE making cinnamon rolls today...oh joy.  
Or maybe I'll just go talk to the office about having class changes...  
  
"Well what do ya know?" I studied my imaginary watch, and Sango looked at her own invisible watch, too, "I need to get to my first period class!"  
"Math." He said.  
"Whatever," I snapped and waved the issue away impatiently. I took off with Sango and Miroku and didn't notice that we were about to pass Kikyo, who was clinging to Inuyasha.  
I DID notice her, however, when her foot stuck out and I unceremoniously landed on my stomach.  
This looked bad.  
"Why, Kagome! What are you doing on the floor?" she mocked.  
"I'm taking a nap, you dumb-ass. What's it look like?" I said with irritation.  
Maybe I heard wrong, but I could have sworn Inuyasha snorted.   
Anyways, that wasn't the answer Kikyo wanted.  
And Naraku was behind me in a flash.  
He offered me a hand while glaring at Inuyasha and Kikyo, as if the two of them were plotting my death (which Kikyo probably is) but I slapped his hand away and reminded him that I could get up on my own perfectly well.   
"No one trips my girlfriend and gets away with it." Naraku snarled at Inuyasha in particular. Why at Inuyasha, I don't know but that wasn't what was first in my mind. Or Inuyasha's.  
"Your girlfriend? I'm sorry, I had no idea." Inuyasha mocked, "You're both new so it's not like I would have assumed it."  
"GIRLFRIEND??" I hollered at Naraku, "I-DUMPED-YOU-8-TIMES last year!! DON'T YOU GET IT YET???"  
"You told me 20." Sango told me.  
"You're not helping." I mumbled.  
"So why'd you two get back together after you dumped him so many times?" Inuyasha still didn't quite get it.  
"Do you seriously think that it was a choice of mine?" I asked him with out a hint of sarcasm.  
To my annoyance, Naraku ignored me.  
"Touch her and die." He hissed at Inuyasha.   
"Don't tell anyone what to do when it concerns me, got it?" I snarled at him.  
"Why shouldn't I?" his voice returning smooth, "You're mine, Kagome."  
"No...I'm...Not..." I hissed through clenched teeth.  
Naraku looked like he was going to take one of our heads off so Sango, Miroku and I decided it was time to leave. I turned around, kicked Kikyo in the shins, and then ran.  
It was just like dropping a bomb~!   
Pandemonium broke out behind me. ~*evil grin*~  
Kikyo was shrieking in outrage, Inuyasha was snarling at Naraku saying that if I WAS his girlfriend, then he should have better control of my actions, and Naraku bellowing back saying that it was their own fault for tripping me in the first place. As Miroku ran into the door, pushing it open, we heard louder yelling and then a fist coming in contact with something. I looked back and saw that Naraku had tried to punch Inuyasha but Inuyasha had dodged at the last minute and so Naraku's fist came in contact with Kikyo's cheek, who was now bawling her eyes out...or maybe he just punched her outright to shut her up (which didn't quite work...). As I continued to watch, I saw that the two of them were both trying to hit each other but they were both good at dodging, so no one was getting hit. The last thing I saw was a ring of students surrounding them chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!' and several teachers from nearby classrooms coming out to break up the fight. Then Sango backtracked and grabbed my wrist, nearly yanked my arm out of it's socket, to drag me away from the scene before we were caught. I mean, I had kinda started it but it was Naraku who threw the first punch.   
What a day this was going to be: starting out with a cat on my head, a bird outside my window, a doorbell, a rabid dog, a car following us, and now a fight. All before school had even started. And let me remind you that later today, we get to pick our four partners for the density project in science and we also get to make cinnamon rolls in cooking.   
Someone up there must really not like me.  
  
***  
  
I pluncked my books down on a desk as soon as we were inside the classroom.   
"THAT was brilliant!" Miroku exclaimed with a wicked grin.  
"Did you really have to kick her in the shins?" Sango sighed tiredly.  
"Did she really have to trip me earlier?" I answered her.  
"Don't answer with a question, Kagome, it's unhealthy." Miroku said randomly.  
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Sango, "Did I really have to kick her in the shins? Absolutely."   
"Anyways, that is Naraku?" Miroku asked with disgust.  
I nodded miserably.  
"Kagome, I don't care if you want our help or not cause you're getting it." Miroku shook his head with a determined look. "I can't stand him already."  
"Why, cause he was putting his hands on a girl you haven't touched yet?" Sango teased with a smirk.   
"THAT, has nothing to do with it." Miroku turned his nose up into the air.  
I looked at Sango, "and plus, his hand already DID find my butt."  
Miroku was about to argue with me about that comment and Tadashi just ran in telling me that he had seen the whole thing and was nearly crying with absolute joy, but the bell rang and Mr. Kinoshita walked into the classroom and closed the door behind him.   
  
***  
Meanwhile...  
  
~*Inuyasha's P.O.V*~  
  
*sigh*   
The office is beginning to feel like home...and I don't think that that's a good thing...  
"Inuyasha!"  
I dully turned to the office attendant, who was dishing out punishments to Naraku and I.   
"What."   
"Pay attention. Now, for the rest of this week, the two of you will share cleaning up the lunch room, i.e. wiping tables, but Naraku, because you actually injured someone, you will be wiping tables in the lunchroom for the rest of two weeks."  
I tried to hide my grin of pleasure as best as I could.  
His face was absolutely priceless.  
I don't think he has ever held a sponge in his life.  
"Is that it?" I asked.  
She raised her eyebrows at me, "Inuyasha, if you think that this is getting off easy, then think again-"  
"I mean: can we go now?" the annoyance showed clearly in my voice.  
"If you are not seen cleaning the tables, then you will have a bigger punishment. Inuyasha, you know what that is."   
Indeed I did. Curse her.   
"You are excused."   
I turned and left the office. Naraku left for his first period class to probably make a 'grand' entrance, and I left for the health room.  
As I opened the door, I could hear Kikyo's pitiful sobs from inside.  
"Hey, Kikyo..." I said to her.  
She looked up from scooping ice into a plastic bag and then dropped it as she threw herself onto me.  
"I-I-inu...yasha..." she sobbed  
"I'm sorry Kikyo...I didn't realize that you were right behind me. I would have tripped him before his fist could have touched anything if I had of known." I apologized.   
She nodded as she sniffled and then turned away to get her ice before her cheek swelled too much.   
"Are your teeth okay?"   
That was one of the things I was worried about. If that bastard, Naraku, knocked ANY of her teeth loose, he was gonna pay with his jaw. I bet one good punch would knock his jaw, easy. Heh.   
But Kikyo nodded her head.   
"You gonna go to class?" I asked her.  
"Dunno."  
"I'll skip class with you if you don't want to walk into class with an ice pack on your mouth." I offered.   
She nodded, "Let's stay here then. It should be fine for second period."   
I sat of the bench next to her and put my arm around her and in automatic response she leaned against me. We both stared out the window, lost in our own separate thoughts.   
I was thinking about that girl...the one who had frightening similarities to Kikyo. Kagome was it? I don't remember...but why'd Kikyo trip her in the hall? It's not like she threw her a dirty look or anything. I guess I don't know everything about Kikyo. She really doesn't like that nimrod, Naraku. How nice. But I don't think anyone would like him. Not even his own mother. I at least have a girlfriend. Who wants me. *smirk* and that Miroku guy and his friend Tadashi seem to like me. I should hang out with them a little more. I guess I would if Kikyo wasn't so demanding of attention. I wonder why she doesn't like them...I wonder why Kagome moved here in the first place. She seems like a cool girl. *sigh* but if I try to know her then Kikyo will think she isn't good enough and she'll hate Kagome and make Kagome miserable. Kikyo...my Kikyo...I feel almost perfect when I'm with her. I just wish she would play a sport. Soccer for instance. Soccer is a cool sport. Actually, soccer is an awesome sport. Why the hell don't they have a boys soccer team?  
  
***  
  
~*Kagome's P.O.V*~  
  
"Gooooooood Morning!!!" Mr. Kinoshita said for the second day in a row, "aaaaaand...HAPPY TUESSSSSDAY~!"  
H-h-happy...Tuesday...?  
"Please, take out your notebooks for today's warm-up quiz!"  
There was the sound of shuffling paper as the class proceeded to do so.  
Mr. Kinoshita suddenly looked like an old man who just snapped, "Today, class, we will be working on plotting...something evil~! Something sinister!" and then he suddenly went back to normal, "...actually we will be plotting numbers on a scatter plot."  
He waited for us to laugh.   
  
  
  
Still waiting...  
  
  
  
Some people started whisper conversations around the room...  
  
  
  
Still waiting...  
  
  
  
Someone finally snorted at him.  
  
  
"Ah ha!! Yuri has a good sense of humor!!" He smiled genuinely at Yuri.   
"I say we all vote Yuri out of the classroom..." Tadashi muttered.  
"We could have kept the whole class period going like that if she hadn't said anything." Miroku snickered.  
"Sorry guys." Yuri mumbled.   
I smiled at her.   
"I would have probably started giggling like a mad idiot high on Pixie Stixs because he is a sad old man who should be locked up." I told her.   
The back corner I sat in laughed as quietly as they could with Yuri, who was in the second row.   
"Yes...I know I'm a funny man, but we need to talk about math stuff." Mr. Kinoshita gave us a sappy smile.  
What? FUNNY MAN?? *HACK, COUGH, WEEZE!!!!!!* I'm SO sorry Mr. Kinoshita but DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF~!  
"Now that you have finished your warm ups...let's warm up to this~!" Mr. Kinoshita ginned at his own stupidity.  
Dear...lord...in heaven...please have mercy on us.   
A smoke bomb, an escape ladder and a helicopter...that's all I ask...  
  
***  
  
When that blissful bell released us, I nearly cheered. The only reason I didn't cheer was because as I checked my schedule, I noticed that I had gym next and I happen to have gym with Kikyo and Naraku. Booooooo...   
Sango grabbed me by the wrist again and we both braced our selves as she dragged us out into the current of students. As we neared the doors to the gym, I felt this over whelming aura of evil. Must be because Kikyo AND Naraku were somewhere nearby. -_- I glanced behind me and saw that Kikyo and Inuyasha were about 20 yards away. I dragged Sango up to the door and waited. Just when Kikyo and Inuyasha reached me, I opened the door for them and bowed low. For the full affect, I was going to trip Kikyo, but I felt just a smidgeon of pity towards her because she had an ice pack on her cheek and she has no friends. ^.^ Because I didn't trip her, she raised her eyebrows in suspicion because she was waiting for me to do something. She stopped in the doorway, staring at me.  
"You're creating a line, Kikyo." I told her.  
"They can wait. Where is my apology?"   
"Where's mine?"   
"I don't owe you anything!" She looked disgusted.  
"Then neither do I." I replied simply. I walked away and she continued to stare at me with absolute shock on her face until the door banged into the back of her head, because she didn't move from the doorjamb when I left.   
  
***  
  
We were doing our warm ups before we got to go out to the track and work on our high jumps. Mr. Sukegawa had been watching us with his clipboard yesterday and marked down what he thought we were good at. I'm apparently stuck doing high jump, running long jump and standing long jump. Big whoop. Sango gets to do high jump, relay and running long jump. Miroku is in relay, high jump and shot put. (Tadashi is in everything Miroku is ^^) Kikyo is in relay. That's it. Relay. Inuyasha is in high jump, running long jump and shot put, and Kouga is in Shot put, running long jump and relay. Naraku gets to try everything today.   
Sango, Miroku, Tadashi, Inuyasha and I headed over to do high jump together. We lined up with the rest of the people who were practicing high jump first. When it was my turn, I ran up to the bar with speed and then I threw my 'long and graceful' legs over it and landed on my front on the other side. I love the mats that we had to land on. I could sleep on them. ^^ They're so cushy ^_____^ Stupid me forgot that there were other people who weren't willing to let the person before them lie on the mats for an eternity. Inuyasha is one of them. Actually, I don't think he saw me. You see he came running up to the bar in a curving arc and he swung his legs in the scissor movement, like I had, just over the bar and then landed. On me.   
"OOOF~!" was kind of what I said.  
"Eh?" Inuyasha looked 'under' him (he landed on his back) and saw me. "What are you doing here?? You're supposed to move after you jump, you know."  
"Wull scuze me for not bean fast enuff," I managed to say face down in the mat, "but aren't u supposed tuh luck before u jump?"  
He snorted as we heard a "YEA HOOOOOOO~!!!" and I then heard Inuyasha yell. I shifted as best as I could and saw Tadashi land on Inuyasha. And my back was going to break if anything else landed on- oh no.  
"SANGO!!! STOPP!!!!!!" I heard Inuyasha holler. My eyes bulged as another 115 pounds landed on my poor unstable back.   
"Wow!" I heard Sango say, "this pile is getting high! COME ON MIROKU!! SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE IT TO THE TOP!!!"   
I made a really weird noise as Miroku piled on too. The funny thing is that Inuyasha seemed to be enjoying this. HE didn't notice that he had three people on him. But then, how often did he do this?   
"Hey Kagome! Got any feeling left in your back?" Miroku called down.  
I wrestled my left arm out from under me and showed him my 'I really, really, really, hate you right now so if you want to be able to have any feeling left in any part of you, I suggest that you get the hell off of me before I beat you to a bloody pulp' look by flipping him my lovely long middle finger.  
"Gee, that's not very nice, Kagome." He said back. I could hear the grin of evil in his voice.   
I was probably going to do something very unforgivable in a moment (I was thinking of it) but Mr. Sukegawa came by and started hollering at us to stop horsing around and that however many pushups would be issued if we didn't a move on. I felt a 'scoosh' as Miroku landed on my left side. I made a move with my free hand to strangle him, but he said "whoop~!" as he rolled out of the way. I heard a 'Whump!' as he accidentally rolled off the mat and on to the hard concrete and I snorted at him.  
"Shut up..." I heard.   
Then Sango rolled off, stepped on Miroku and then Tadashi did the same. Inuyasha finally rolled off me and stepped on Miroku before Miroku could get up. I attempted to move but my right arm that had been trapped under five bodies (including my own) didn't seem to be able to help my left arm support me in getting up. Actually it didn't seem to be able to feel the mat I was still on. I grunted as I made myself roll onto my back and suddenly felt immense pain shoot up my spinal cord.   
"AAUGH~!"  
"Need help?"   
I glanced at the hand that was being offered to me and I took it with my left hand. Inuyasha pulled me up off the mats and I stood on Miroku (who muttered, "what am I, a rug??"), who was still lying on the concrete with shoe imprints on his back.  
Every bone in my body seemed to snap, crack, and pop at once.   
I stumbled forward, as my legs regained their feeling and my back popped angrily at me.  
And Inuyasha caught me. Under the arms -_-.   
Just then, "KAGOME~!" Naraku came charging up with anger in his eyes. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!!"   
"Naraku, he was helping me stand. You weren't anywhere near by, so what was I to do? Hm?"   
As Naraku reached us, he didn't slow down. I think he was going to body check Inuyasha but Inuyasha spun me out of the way a said "Alley-Oop~!" as he tripped Naraku who went flying onto the high jump mat just as the next person was jumping. And that next person landed on Naraku's head. I felt sorry for the kid because Naraku wouldn't forget this and would probably give him a sound beating after school.  
Well, he would have if had of seen the kid's face, but because the kid landed on Naraku's head, his head was forced into the mat.  
It would have been absolutely hilarious if the kid had of farted...   
  
***  
  
Miroku and I were in no condition to continue gym, so Mr. Sukegawa excused us to go and get some ice for our backs, but only after lecturing us about our 'childish behavior'.   
Miroku led us to the health room and he shoveled ice cubes into a little bag for his shoe imprint. I loaded it into a plastic bag I found in the corner of the room and flopped down onto one of the beds while evenly spreading the bag across my poor, mistreated back.   
Naraku stroked it, Inuyasha fell on it, and any second now, Kouga was going to burst in and start attempting to massage it.  
Miroku taped his ice bag to his back with a roll of duct tape near by and then sat on the bed I was lying on and then started to massage my back around the ice bag.   
I guess Miroku instead of Kouga was better any day.   
"Feel a little better?" he asked me.  
"Actually, yes...and it hurts more near my shoulders...not near my butt."   
"Ah, but Kagome, I know the right pressure points are at the bottom of the back to make the top-" he started to fib.  
"No, they aren't."   
"Hmph."   
"Thank you."  
"I just think that you're just telling me off is because you aren't strong enough to fight back~!" he winked.  
"Just remember: if you try ANYTHING, I'll pound you the next time I can stand right."  
"Got it."  
  
***  
  
The bell rang to dismiss us from our second period to our third. I pulled my shirt on in the girls' locker room and took the elastic that I had in for gym, out. I grabbed my books and as soon I opened the door, Naraku hooked his arm onto mine.   
"We have social studies together."  
"How could I have forgotten?" I said dryly.   
Just then, I felt my books be pulled out right from beneath my right arm. Naraku plopped them into a black cloth bag with a shoulder strap and then handed it back to me.  
"What's this?" I asked.  
"You told me that you misplaced your last one so I called in a told them what I wanted manufactured."   
"...uh...thank you (I guess (()" I said as I looked over the book bag.   
It was black cloth with 'Kagome' embroidered in a blue so pale that it was almost white, with flowers of different shades of blue, woven around the letters.  
"It's very nice, Naraku," I said, just like I said every time he gave me something I felt like keeping (which is almost never).   
"You can be so polite sometimes, Kagome. I love you~" he whispered right into my ear.  
I really, really hate it when he says that. His face was right next to mine as Sango caught up to me.  
Suddenly...his lips came in contact with my cheek.  
My teeth clenched together and every part of my body froze, except for my legs, which somehow managed to keep walking. Sango gave me one helluva sympathetic look and muttered "grin and bear it" in my ear.  
That's exactly what I was trying to do, but with the way I was grinning, my teeth were going to break soon.  
Suddenly Naraku was jolted off of my cheek as Miroku body slammed him.  
"Hey Naraku! Wanna be friends? It's a pity we only have P.E. together, you look like a smart guy! We should have coffee together sometime! I could show you the best store in the town, of course it's probably owned by your father because he owns a whole string of different kinds of shops! I mean, He owns a coffee brand, a newspaper, and even a TV station! It must be pretty cool being his son, I mean, you must be really rich!!!"   
That look in Naraku's eyes at the moment, as he picked himself up off the ground, was saying 'I'm going to crush this man'.   
I suddenly hoped that Miroku had taken a martial art, or could run really, really fast.   
"Well, I'll be getting to class then," Miroku said.  
I mouthed him 'Thank you!!' while Naraku's back was turned and Miroku winked back in reply.   
Naraku then continued to steer us to social studies.  
  
***  
  
Alright, for twenty minutes before third period, we have something called homeroom. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we read for those twenty minutes. On Tuesday and Thursday, we can hang out and such in the classroom. Put it this way: with Naraku and Kikyo in your homeroom, it's the ultimate hellhole.   
The class Social studies went well enough and I managed to escape to lunch before Naraku caught me. I located Tadashi with Haruna and Minami at one of the tables and I took my homemade lunch over there and sat with them.  
Sango, Yumi, Sayori and Miroku soon joined us.  
"Who's that guy, Kagome? The new one who is acting like he's been your boyfriend for a year?" Haruna asked with huge eyes.  
"His name is Naraku and he HAS been my boyfriend for the past year."  
"Really?? Hey that's such a pretty bag he gave you too~!"  
Haruna, it appears, is quite a bit dim.   
"I'd give it to you if it didn't have my name embroidered on it."  
"Really?? Gee thanks!!"   
At this point, to stop further conversation, I started to snarf my lunch.   
I literally snarf it.   
It took me a minute to realize that the others were watching me with wide eyes.  
"Whut?" I asked over a huge mouthful of Ramen.  
"Nothing!" Miroku and the others returned to their own lunches.  
As I finished the Ramen (in two minutes), I pulled out a small case of six small sushi rolls and began to devour them too. After the Ramen, Sushi, box of Pocky sticks, can of soda, moshi, sashimi and a cookie, I began observing everyone else's lunch.   
"You gonna eat that?" I pointed to Tadashi's dessert.  
He nodded and wolfed it before my eyes.   
I pouted and turned to Sango and gave her my huge doll face.  
"What do ya want?"   
I pointed to her remaining warm pork bun.  
She rolled her eyes and split it in half and gave half to me.  
After devouring the sweet, tasty bun, I licked my lips and finally joined conversation.   
  
***  
  
Let's just say that Mr. Myoga made things easy for me and picked the groups. Seeing as the tables of two are in a line of two, he made us work with our table row. I get to work with Akina, Hiroshi, and none other than Inuyasha. We spent the period arguing about what colours the balloon should be.  
Akina and I wanted blue, purple and green and the boys wanted red, orange, black, and yellow.   
"Blue, purple, and green are the colours of the sea!" Akina was trying to persuade them.  
"Yea? Well red, orange, yellow, and black are fire colours!" Inuyasha shot back.   
"But our colours are so much prettier!" Akina fired.  
"So? Who wants pretty??? With our colours, you'll see the balloon clearly if it's sunny OR cloudy!!"   
"Who wants to see it if it's ugly??"   
"UGLY?? IT'S NOT UGLY!! YOUR COLOURS ARE UGLY!!!!"  
Hiroshi and I sweatdropped on the sidelines while waiting for the two of them to compromise.   
~~~~~~  
40 minutes later...  
"FINE! WE'LL DO IT THAT WAY, THEN!"  
"GOOD!"  
  
~~~~~~   
  
I cannot believe it.   
They've managed to compromise on using ALL the colours.   
Ours will be the ugliest balloon in the sky.  
I can just picture it.  
Pretty balloon, pretty balloon, pretty balloon, OH MY GAWD SOMEONE PUT A BULLET THROUGH IT, pretty balloon, pretty balloon.   
  
***  
  
Cooking.  
Can my day get any worse?  
  
I entered the room and walked over to the table that Sango, Sayori and Yumi were sitting at. As the bell rang, Naraku walked into the classroom.  
"You must be Hibara, Naraku! Welcome!" Mrs. Nakashima gave him a 'dazzling' smile (you know, the one I'm sick of already).  
He just nodded at her.  
"Today, we are going to be making the cinnamon rolls! I'm going to put you into groups of four or five and then I'll tell you which stove you get."  
We sat tight and waited.  
"Let's see..."   
  
Bloody Hell!!!  
I'm in a group with Sango, Inuyasha and Naraku.  
Apparently my day can get worse.  
"Well...Kagome! Why don't you and...Inuyasha go and get the ingredients and...Naraku and I will get out the equipment! ^^'" Sango hesitantly suggested.   
Inuyasha and I wandered over to the tray full of flower, butter, cinnamon and lots of other things.  
"So...what do we get?" I asked him.  
"I don't know. I wasn't listening yesterday."  
"Why don't we just grab a little bit of everything?" I casually suggested.  
"Or why don't we take everything?"  
"Why not."   
I grabbed the unopened flour bag, 10 sticks of butter and the container of sugar. Inuyasha took everything else. We came back to the stove where Naraku and Sango had gotten everything out. I have sneaking suspicions that Naraku did absolutely nothing.   
We dumped out loot onto the counter.  
"So, who wants to read the instructions?" Sango asked.  
"I'LL do that!" Naraku said with a regal attitude.   
"Okaaaaaay...and who wants to put in the ingredients?"   
"I guess I will." I volunteered.  
"That leaves Inuyasha and I to clean up!"   
"Keh."  
It is quite clear to me that Naraku has never read a cookbook before. In the end, I put in 3 eggs, a tablespoon of cinnamon, five sticks of butter, too much flour, and a hell of a lot of sugar. I think some vanilla, water, milk and......vinegar went into it also...   
When I opened up the flour, I accidentally ripped it open, so flour flew around the place and landed in our hair, giving others the impression that we had just aged 30 years.   
When I tried to work with the dough, it was so stiff because of the humungous amount of flour and the lack of liquid ingredients.   
It wouldn't even tear.   
How am I supposed to make eight cinnamon rolls if the ruddy dough won't tear??  
"Let me try, Kagome," Sango offered.  
She stretched it, she cut it, and it just wouldn't tear.  
"Let me try it!!" Inuyasha stood over her with a cleaver in his hands.   
Inuyasha attacked the dough with a vengeance (actually, he attacked it with a cleaver).  
"100 STRIKES!!" he yelled madly.  
When he finished his 100 strikes, he started cursing madly when he saw the dough sitting there as if nothing had touched it.  
"I'LL TEAR IT APART!!" Naraku grabbed the dough and started to pull it apart with his teeth.   
I'm defiantly not eating this now.  
Suddenly there was an, "AUGH~!" and Naraku whipped the dough out of his mouth.  
It had blood on it and then I saw a tooth protruding from the center of the blood.  
  
Nightmares in the Kitchen.   
  
"HERE!" Sango yelled as she stuffed the entire wad of dough into Naraku's mouth, "THAT'LL STOP THE BLEEDING!!"  
Naraku looked like he was going to puke.  
"Thith stuff tasths disthguthting!" he said as best as he could.   
"After 5 sticks of butter, I'm sure it does." I commented.  
When he pulled it out of his mouth, the bleeding had stopped.   
"I wonder what would happen if we put it in the oven!" Inuyasha said wildly.  
He snatched the dough and rolled it up as best as he could and threw it on to a tray and tossed it into the oven. He swung the temperature dial to 400 and we all sat and waited.   
"I dare someone to eat that." Sango said.  
"It's gonna be Naraku. It's his tooth and blood in that thing." I replied.   
"Class! While we wait for our cinnamon rolls to bake, let's read a story!" Mrs. Nakashima exclaimed.  
"She's almost worse than Mr. Kinoshita." I stared.  
"Come on." was all Sango said.  
Halfway through the story I heard Inuyasha mutter 'Uh oh."  
I glanced in his direction and then followed his eyesight.   
Our oven was smoking.  
Oh crap.  
I turned my attention back to the story, as no one else had noticed, and I hoped everything would be all right.   
Of course, I should have known that it wouldn't be all right because so far my day had been ruined so why wouldn't the rest of the day be crap also?  
The oven exploded. And so did the class.   
Everyone was screaming and yelling, I'm amazed that the principal hadn't shown up yet.   
When the smoke cleared, I saw that our part of the kitchen was on fire. Someone else yanked the fire alarm and the entire school proceeded in evacuating the school.   
And it was all our fault.   
Actually, it was Inuyasha's because he put the vile thing in the oven but we made it.   
"You're on clean up duty," I muttered in his ear.   
He glared at me.   
^^   
The fire truck showed up and put out the fire and 40 minutes later, we were allowed back into the school. Nothing had been badly burned or damaged and no one was hurt.   
"I demand to know who started all this!" The principal stood in front of our class.  
Of course, no one raised their hands. We weren't stupid.   
Well, aside from starting this whole commotion, we weren't stupid.   
And lucky us, Mrs. Nakamura had forgotten whom she had assigned that part of the kitchen to and of course, everyone else had been focusing on their food that they didn't pay attention to us.   
  
My day had a highlight! We weren't caught!   
  
***  
  
Because of the fire, there was only about two minutes left of school so I didn't have to go to language arts(!).   
Miroku ran up to Sango and I after school that day as we were leaving.  
"YOU GUYS WERE IN THAT CLASS, WEREN'T YOU!! YOU'RE OKAY RIGHT?? WHO DID IT???"  
"Well...we did it..." I muttered.  
"WE didn't but Inuyasha was the one who put it in the oven." Sango corrected me.   
Miroku stared in shock.  
"I told you I can't cook." I said, as we stopped at my house.   
Sango kept walking home and I went into the kitchen to get a snack.  
I stood in the window of my bedroom and looked out into the street. A black Mercedes car parked outside suddenly started and drove away.   
I looked at the license plate: Gr8 one.  
Great one?  
That won't be hard to forget.  
And I'm willing to bet a whole lot of money that it was one of Naraku's cars.  
  
***  
  
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Sorry for taking so long to update!! I tried to make this chapter extra long for you to make up for the long wait ^.~   
Pleas Review!!!!!!  
  
-Noodals  
=^.^= 


	4. PreDance

Disclaimer: *sings* I DOOOOOOOOOON'T OWN INUYASHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!*windows crack*  
51 REVIEWS!!!!!! YAY!! *parties*  
Thank you very much to all of you wonderful reviewers that allowed me to have *51* reviews for only *3* chapters!! ^___________^  
Chapter 4  
Pre-Dance  
(sorry for the boring chapter title. I'm sick. Forgive me.)  
***  
  
One week and a day later...  
(that's a Wednesday)  
6:00 A.M.  
***  
*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-clickclickclickclickclick!!*  
That is the sound of my new alarm clock (if you will remember, I smashed my last one...).  
I like this one. It's quieter than the last one and it's like a droning bee. The only problem is that you have to hit snooze button five times before it actually responds and let's you sleep for...exactly three more minutes. -_-  
  
After shutting off my lovely alarm clock, I went out into the hall to the bathroom. Before going into the bathroom, I checked in my brother's room to make sure he was asleep in his bed. I have made this part of my morning routine because before that, he would either come barging in with a drum or a horn. This is what my house is like.  
  
After having a big bowl of cereal, a slice of toast, and that large cup of coffee, I was ready to walk to school with Sango. I grabbed my bag as the doorbell rang and I opened the door when two pairs of hands grabbed me.  
  
"Eh? Wh-what are you do-OW! THAT HURT YOU KNOW!!"  
  
I stumbled down the steps as they dragged me and tossed me into the car.  
  
"I TOLD you not to HURT HER!" a vicious voice snarled next to me.  
  
It was Naraku's vicious voice.  
  
"S-she was struggling, boss!"  
  
DUH.  
  
"We did our best."  
  
I glanced at Naraku's face and saw his mouth twist in to an evil grin. The grin that said 'I'm going to get you after school'.  
I didn't care.  
  
"Where's Sango?" I demanded.  
  
"Why Kagome! Is that the way to greet your boyfriend?"  
  
His voice is like spiders silk. _  
Have I ever mentioned that I HATE spiders?  
  
"You're lucky you're a boy, cause you aren't a friend of mine." I gritted out to myself.  
It's amazing how you're body can really want to do something and you have to do everything you can to stop it. My hands at the moment were absolutely itching to grasp his throat and throttle him. I don't know why I didn't but instead I sat on my hands to prevent myself from killing him right then and there.  
  
"Good morning Naraku, now be a good boy and tell me where Sango is." I said with a forced smile.  
  
Naraku grinned a twisted smirk back at me (I don't think he actually knows how to smile).  
  
"She should be at school..." he checked his watch, "right about now."  
  
He put his arm around my shoulders as we rounded the bend that had the house with the German Shepard.  
  
"So...what did I do to deserve a ride to school?" I choked out.  
  
"Oh don't sound like it's unusual. Don't you remember that I used to always pick you up before you moved?"  
  
I glared at the memory.  
  
"Yes, but you lived two blocks away from me then."  
  
"It's not like I live in another city, you know." He went on.  
  
"Oh, so you live on the other side of town?" I asked.  
  
I prayed.  
  
"maybe half way across town." He figured.  
  
I nearly did a cartwheel as I got out of the car.  
He lives a whole HALF A TOWN away from me!!!  
Yesssss~!!!  
I saw Sango hiding behind a very pissed Miroku, as he was yelling at the guy in black that had gotten out of the car with her. Another black car. Come to think of it there were a lot of people today wearing black.  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
Naraku's voice brought my attention away from Sango.  
  
"There is a dance in two days. Friday night from 7 till 9. I'll pick you up at a quarter to 7."  
  
I'm not going if he's going.  
I swung by Sango and rescued her from the two yelling boys and then we both pulled Miroku away from that guy.  
  
"What are the dances like?" I inquired.  
  
Miroku's dark, grumpy face light up, "They're a lot of fun~! There are strobe lights and the music is up to date and LOUD! You can just feel the beat pulse through you and we have our own DJ, too!"  
  
"You don't have to go as a couple, obviously, because we're just going as a group so what if we were to meet at Miroku's house at 6:30, and then we can walk to the school?" Sango suggested.  
  
"6:30 is perfect but what is the lighting like in the gym?" I needed to know.  
  
"Pitch dark, except for the strobe lights!" Miroku exclaimed.  
  
Pitch dark. Good!  
  
"Sango, will you stop by my house or something, because I don't know where Miroku's house is!" I confessed.  
  
"Sure!"  
  
"Why did you want to know the lighting in the gym? Bad sight? ...or are you trying to hide from someone?" Miroku slyly asked.  
  
"Guess which, Miroku!" I told him sarcastically.  
  
"^^"  
The first bell rang, so the three of us proceeded to Hell (Mr. Kinoshita's classroom).  
"Gooooooood Morning!!! Aaaaaaaaaaand HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!!"  
  
Please realize that he has been saying that to us everyday of the week, so far.  
  
"GOOD MORNING, MR. KINOSHITA!" Tadashi yelled at the top of his lungs.  
  
"WHY are you YELLING?" Mr. Kinoshita hollered back.  
  
"BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT IN YOUR VERY OLD AGE, YOU MIGHT HAVE GONE DEAF OVERNIGHT!!"  
  
"Well, I DID NOT!!" he exclaimed and then laughed at Tadashi's "witty" "joke".  
  
"Please work on your warm up quiz that is on the overhead...PROJECTOR!!!" he exclaimed to the rest of us.  
  
We silently copied the problems and worked on them as he walked around the room.  
  
He picked up a kids calculator and commented, "Wow...calculators...they're fascinating things, aren't they? In MY day, we had to-"  
  
"MR. KINOSHITA..." Tadashi said quite loudly (again), "AS INTERESTING AS THE STONE AGE IS, I HAVEN'T THE TIME OR PATIENCE TO DISCUSS YOUR CHILDHOOD. I AM TRYING TO GET MY WORK DONE SO KINDLY SHUT UP AND LET ME WORK!!!"  
  
"Work on your problems," was all he said about the matter before continuing. "Where was I?"  
  
Silence...  
"Anybody?" he asked.  
  
He eventually gave up.  
I stared at the problem. It had something crazy to do with the number of faulty bulbs at GE.  
Whatever.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW then FOLKS~! Can anybody tell me out how many of the ENTIRE (he spread his arms wide to attempt to give us a model of the amount) number of baulbs at GE were fawlty baulbs (he honestly said it like that. It's not that I'm a bad speller.)?"  
  
No one raised their hand.  
  
***  
  
We are doing soccer in P.E!!! (I know I haven't said this but I got on to the soccer team easy).  
We have been divided up into two teams but we aren't playing real soccer. We're playing that thing where everybody lines up against the wall except for three people from each team. The wall behind the line of goalies is the net.  
It sucks.  
Well, except for that Naraku is on the other team and I nearly managed to kick the ball into his face.  
Sadly enough, I accidentally pelted Inuyasha in the face (He, Tadashi, and Haruna are on the other team).  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
You see, I didn't realize that I had hit anyone, because I just kept concentrating on the game and didn't realize that the ball had kept flying.  
  
"Kagome! You just hit Inuyasha in the face!" Mr. Sukegawa told me fiercely.  
  
"I-I-I did?" I exclaimed with total innocence.  
  
"YOU DID!!" Kikyo stormed over to me.  
  
And Naraku was behind me in a flash.  
Here we go again...  
  
"Kagome!" barked Mr. Sukegawa, as Inuyasha's nose started bleeding, "Take Inuyasha to the health room. When you get back, you will not be allowed to participate in the game for the remainder of the period."  
  
We walked to the health room, with Inuyasha holding his nose. He grabbed himself a Kleenex while I shoveled ice into a tiny plastic zip-lock bag. I passed it to him while waiting for him to finish with the Kleenex. He took the bag and packed it around his nose and then sat on the squeaky bed.  
  
"Thanks for doing this for me," he said, "I owe you one."  
  
"You could have gotten the ice yourself. The only reason I got to come was because I did it in the first place."  
  
"Nononono...I'm talking about blasting my nose up to my eyebrows. Now I don't have to play some dinky soccer game with about 15 goalies."  
  
"It's good for the both of us then." I smiled to myself, "I don't have to play either...for today, anyways."  
  
"Pity we have to play it for the rest of the week..." he rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well it's not like a bloody nose is going to keep you out of P.E. for any longer than today."  
  
"Hey! Maybe you broke it!"  
  
"Right, like a broken nose is going to affect your ability to run."  
  
"Want me to punch you? Make it look like an accident?" he grinned at me.  
  
"Well..." I falsely considered.  
  
He snorted.  
  
"I wouldn't do that...not on purpose, anyways."  
  
"Well it's not like I *MEANT* for YOU to inhale the ball. I just didn't have enough aim to knock out Naraku's teeth." I huffed.  
  
"You hate him, don't you?" he said in a distant voice.  
  
"Hate is an understatement..."  
  
"Why do you stay with him?"  
  
"...because I have to..."  
  
He blinked and then stared at me.  
  
"You don't HAVE to do ANYthing."  
  
I sat there silent.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"We should go back to the gym." I said, trying to change the subject.  
  
"I'm not leaving here until you tell me why you stay with him...and you aren't leaving till you tell me, too!" He gave me his most stubborn look (it's pretty stubborn, all right...).  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"I'll tell you if you tell me!" he said like a 5-year-old.  
  
"Then we're going to stay here for a while until I find a way to phrase it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
We sat there.  
  
"So, I hear you play soccer." He interrupted my train of thought.  
  
"Huh? Oh, yea. I love it! It's an awesome sport!" I grinned wickedly. "I just love the smell of turf and grass, and with the wind in your hair while you're running, while kicking the ball and then grinning as you score...what's not to like?"  
  
"What position do you play?"  
  
"All over the place. I prefer midfield, but occasionally I play forward...do you play?"  
  
"Soccer? No. I wish I played...it is a cool sport. When is your first game?"  
  
"Tomorrow night! It's a home game at 6:00!"  
  
"Cool. Good luck!"  
  
I smiled at him, and he grinned back from behind his ice bag.  
  
"So...how long have you and Kikyo been together?"  
  
"About a year. That's when I moved here."  
  
"Was it hard making friends?"  
  
"No...not really. Miroku and Tadashi rock but...there's something about Kikyo that makes me feel connected to her...and she demands quite a bit of attention so...I just didn't hang out with the guys that much."  
  
He's such a cool guy, though! I wonder if that connection to Kikyo was loneliness...  
  
"How long have you and Naraku been together?"  
  
"We aren't 'together'." I snapped.  
  
"So why haven't you told him to kiss your ass and then walk away from him??"  
  
He probably WOULD kiss my ass...literally...-_-*  
  
"I told him to kiss my goddamned ass too many times!! Why do you think I moved? No, it wasn't because my mom got a job offer, it's because I told her I was getting bullied at school so we moved! We moved because of me!!" I felt my voice rise.  
  
I wish I hadn't lied to her, but I didn't want her to worry about me. It felt like the right thing to do, anyways.  
I felt tears burn behind my eyes. I closed them so that the tears wouldn't leak out and sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have yelled."  
  
He was silent for a while but then shook his head saying that he understood.  
  
"The reason that I stay with him is because he's holding something over me. He knows something that would ruin me and...I don't know what everyone's reaction would be if they found out." I whispered, as if afraid that if I spoke to loudly, he would guess my secret.  
  
"......what kind of something...?"  
  
"I-I-I did something...when I was seven...and I-I honestly don't know how he found out but...he did...and he once threatened to tell everybody about it so I stayed with him as his girlfriend."  
  
Inuyasha stared.  
  
"WHAT KIND OF A 'BOYFRIEND' WOULD DO THAT???"  
  
"He's not a boyfriend. The only reason he thinks he's irresistible is because the other girls swarmed over him for his money."  
  
"I see."  
  
"No, I don't think you do."  
  
I saw his surprised blink as I looked out the window.  
  
"I...you're right...I don't know. I was just trying to...Oh, I don't know." He resumed his usual unsure scowl. "Let's go back to class."  
  
"No. You have to tell me why you cared to know why I hate Naraku."  
  
"Too bad." He got up and opened the door to leave.  
  
I sighed.  
I actually had an intelligent conversation with Inuyasha.  
Kind of scary when you realize that his entire world is Kikyo.  
  
***  
  
~4th period Science~  
  
Our balloon is the ugliest.  
We are flying it today and I am so embarrassed that I wish that the ground would swallow me up. I have *never* created something ugly on purpose and now...the entire class is going to see.  
Of course, I think that the only person proud of our 'creation' is Akina. And Inuyasha is holding his head high.  
We are sooooo screwed.  
When it was our turn to heat our balloon and send it up, we did that properly and amazingly it flew. Hiroshi set the timer as it took off and we stood and watched.  
~~~  
Oh my God. Our balloon has been up there for a whole 2 minutes and it is NOT showing signs of coming down!! That's the longest time in the class so far!!  
Pity it's so ugly.  
  
"Hey look Hiroshi! The balloon is going to run into that bird!" Akina pointed out.  
  
~~~  
  
The fricken bird pooped on our balloon.  
  
~~~  
  
Akina ran to catch it as it plummeted to the ground and screamed for us to come with her.  
  
The rest of the class is in hysterics.  
  
As sad as it is...I'm finding this rather amusing.  
  
Ha...ha...ha...-_-  
~~~  
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH~!!!! NOW I *AM* LAUGHING HARD! Akina didn't catch the balloon. The heaviest part of the balloon dropped on to her head: the part with the bird poop.  
She looks reallllly ugly with blue, orange, sea green, red, purple, yellow, and black draped over her nice pink sweater.  
And she stinks of bird poop.  
  
***  
  
~5th period Cooking~  
  
Today we are making blueberry muffins. Before we get started, I would like to add that out of the three things we've made in the past week and a day, all of the things I've baked have come out inedible.  
I can make salad, though!  
^_^  
Our groups are the same: Sango, Naraku, Inuyasha, and I.  
Now then, on the first day of school, Sango gave me the impression that she could cook, and would help me along. She lied. Her food tastes worse than the cafeteria's (and she knows it). Mind you, my cooking tastes like rat poison.  
Naraku has become highly possessive over me and won't let me work with Sango or Inuyasha. If I go and get ingredients, he comes too. If I set out the tools, he does the same while Sango and Inuyasha get the ingredients. It is QUITE annoying.  
  
"Let's see..." Sango said as she read through the recipe, ignoring everything else around her.  
  
"...Inuyasha...what are you doing?" I asked out of curiosity, while drifting away from the lecture Sango was talking at us as she read through the page.  
  
"Cracking eggs."  
  
I watched him crack his sixth egg into the plastic bowl.  
  
"I noticed...but do we need 6 eggs?"  
  
He cracked another two together in his palm and then dumped the contents of the egg into the bowl and tossed the shell to the side.  
He shrugged.  
  
"...and then you, Kagome, can stir the contents together to make the batter, and then that should be about it." Sango finished up, oblivious to the fact that only Naraku had given her half an ear.  
  
Sango started getting out other utensils, while I stood, fascinated, at multiple different ways Inuyasha found to crack eggs.  
  
"Alright, then! Kagome: You and Naraku go and get the ingredients. Inuyasha: You and I are- Inuyasha? What *are* you-INUYASHA!!!" she yelled as she noticed what he was doing. Naraku headed over to the ingredients table, not realizing that I hadn't followed.  
  
Inuyasha ignored her and muttered '...one dozen...' as he shelled his 12th egg.  
  
"Am I the only one that try's to cook, in this group??" she asked frantically.  
  
"Give it up." I told her. "Why try when you know you can't? None of us here can."  
  
"*I* can cook!" Inuyasha stated proudly.  
  
The two of us stared.  
  
"I'm making eggs."  
  
"Thank you, for stating the OBVIOUS!!" Sango yelled.  
  
"Kagome, please pass me the whisk." He requested.  
  
I did so.  
He beat the eggs, till they became a mass of yolk and whites and then he passed the bowl to me, with the whisk, and told me to try it. I beat the eggs some more.  
  
"Now put it in the microwave for 10 minutes." He said.  
  
"TEN MINUTES!!!" Sango looked like she was on the brink of insanity.  
  
"There are 12 eggs in there, dimwit." He replied.  
  
I popped the bowl into the microwave as Sango left shaking her head, saying that she was going to help Naraku carry over the food. I plugged ten minutes into the microwave and then stood next to Inuyasha. I glanced around the classroom at all the students, and then eventually let my mind wander back to where we sat.  
As the microwave continued to count down, I glanced up at Inuyasha.  
  
"I didn't know you could cook eggs." I said to start a conversation.  
  
"I can't." he replied simply.  
  
"......what? But...how did you know to put them in for 10 minutes??" I asked confusedly.  
  
"Guessed."  
  
I stared, open mouthed, at him.  
  
"Did you know that you look like a fish like that?" he smirked.  
  
I shut my mouth.  
  
"By the way, where's the whisk?"  
  
I gasped. "I forgot to take it out!!"  
  
"Out?"  
  
"Of the bowl!!"  
  
He slapped himself on the forehead. "Even *I* know *that*!!"  
  
I sighed. "Well sorry for not being a gourmet chef."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "I knew that in preschool!"  
  
"Liar."  
  
"So what?"  
"...Do eggs explode?" I suddenly asked.  
  
"Did you cover the bowl with wax paper?"  
  
"No. You never told me to."  
  
Inuyasha's eyes widened and the blood drained from his face.  
  
We heard a pop emit from the microwave.  
  
"...I think they do..."  
  
Then we heard a bang.  
  
And I thought we would only have to clean out the inside of the microwave.  
  
Well that would have been just great...if the door hadn't blown off.  
  
It was like watching fireworks.  
  
The bowl made one big explosion, and the door flew off.  
  
Hot egg flew everywhere like confetti, and yet again, people were screaming.  
  
Typical.  
  
***  
  
The bell rang, and somehow, throughout all of the confusion and Ms. Nakashima's absent mindedness, we managed to get away with out being discovered.  
  
Fascinating, when you think about it.  
  
Miroku met me outside the classroom again and we walked to L.A. together.  
  
"So what did you and Inuyasha blow up this time?" he asked in a perfectly good mood.  
  
"The microwave."  
  
"Ah well, what use is a microwave anyway?"  
  
"Useless if it blows up what you're trying to cook."  
  
"What *were* you trying to cook?"  
  
"Eggs. And remind me not to believe Inuyasha when he tells me that he can cook 12 eggs for 10 minutes."  
  
"Alright."  
  
"What put you in such a good mood?"  
  
"Life!"  
  
"Life?"  
  
"Life!"  
  
"Life?"  
  
"Life!"  
  
"Can you shut up and just answer my question?"  
  
"What was you're question?"  
  
I sighed. "When I say 'Life?' as a question, I mean for you to elaborate on your one word statement."  
  
Any fool should know that.  
  
"Ah. Well then, Life is good. That's why I'm in a good mood. You only live once, so live life to it's fullest!"  
  
"Does setting the school kitchen on fire include living life to it's fullest?"  
  
"Well, you're certainly making your teacher live her life to it's fullest."  
  
I hate him sometimes.  
  
***  
  
~*Friday*~  
6:00 A.M.  
  
*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-clickclickclickclickclick*  
  
Ugg...I did not want to get up.  
I yawned as I opened my eyes...and saw Godzilla staring wide-eyed at me.  
  
~~~  
  
To cut a long story short, I screamed bloody murder, my mother came to make sure that I was not being gruesomely slaughtered, and my brother has been grounded for eternity.  
I *hate* rubber masks.  
  
***  
  
~*After school*~  
  
"Kagome...where are you going? My car is this way..." Naraku reminded me.  
  
"I'm going to Sango's house today." I coldly informed him, as we exited the school. I looked for Sango and saw her standing by a blue Honda.  
  
I started to run towards the car but Naraku grabbed me by the wrist and twisted my arm back painfully.  
  
"I don't remember hearing about this, Kagome."  
  
"I forgot...to tell you!" I gasped, as my arm continued to twist against its natural movement.  
  
"Why don't you come tell me in the car. I am picking you up at 6:45 tonight to take you to the dance. Should I pick you up from Sango's house?"  
  
"OWW!!!! QUIT THAT!!!!!" I snarled viciously at him. I felt tears spring to my eyes as my arm screamed at me.  
  
"Come along then," he said as if nothing was the matter.  
  
"I'm not going with you!!" my voice squeaked as I fought not to let myself cry.  
  
"I believe you are." He responded.  
  
I saw, through the mist of tears that was getting thicker, Sango and a woman coming closer...and closer...until the woman swung something and pelted Naraku in the head with it. He let go of me as he landed heavily on the ground and I felt my arm give a huge sigh of relief. Oddly enough, when he let go of me, my tears came easily...possibly because I wasn't concentrating on the pain as much anymore.  
I couldn't see it, but I'm sure there was a huge bump that was getting ready to form. At LEAST I had the pleasure of knowing that a huge black and blue bruise was going to be there.  
  
"Kagome! Meet my mother!" Sango smiled pleasantly.  
  
Sango's mother huffed as she glared down at Naraku. She then looked up at me and smiled good-naturedly, "Hello, Kagome dear!"  
  
I stared speechless at her as I dried my tears. "What did you swing at him??"  
  
"My purse. He was hurting you, wasn't he?"  
  
"Yes, he was." I rubbed my arm to massage the pain away. "What do you keep in your purse?"  
  
"A LOT of change."  
  
"I'm gonna get a real purse and keep cash in it." I decided.  
  
Mrs. Kashiyama (Sango's mother) beamed at me and then looked at Naraku as if he was a worm.  
  
"Let's go." Sango suddenly said, as Naraku started to get up.  
  
"Yes, let's!" Mrs. Kashiyama agreed pointedly.  
  
As we headed to the car, I glanced back at Naraku, coldly, and noticed him glaring at the three of us. Outwardly I turned back around to start a conversation, while climbing into the backseat of Sango's car, but inwardly...that glare had been the death sentence for an old friend of mine that had stuck up for me. I really hoped that Mrs. Kashiyama knew what she was dealing with.  
  
***  
Review! ^____^ 


	5. Crush? hahaha

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or Kagome, or Miroku, or Sango or…  
  
AUGH!! I'M SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME LIKE….20 YEARS TO UPDATE!! My sincere apologies.   
  
I hope that's good enough.  
  
I also hope the chapter's good enough…  
  
Chapter 5:  
  
Crush? Hahaha...  
  
"So who *was* that guy, Kagome? The one trying to break your arm?"   
  
Mrs. Kashiyama isn't about to let the issue go, I see.  
  
"That was Naraku. Hibara, Naraku. He claims to be my boyfriend but…" I began.  
  
"But you don't like him?" she asked me.  
  
"No. I don't like him at all but he seems to not care because he's filthy rich."  
  
"I see."  
  
"And pelting him on the head with your purse probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I appreciate it all the same." I thanked her.  
  
She glanced to the back seat and smiled at me as she kept driving. I noticed a light in her eye that showed she liked helping me against some rich freak. I was grateful.   
  
***  
  
We sat in Sango's room, after a small snack. Our plan was to have dinner, I could choose something to wear out of her closet, and then we would walk to Miroku's house before the dance. Miroku happened to live like…right next to the school.   
  
How nice.  
  
So… We had a dinner of pizza up in her room while Sango went through her closet to pull out anything that would be appropriate and would fit. I spied a lime green halter-top that said "Angel " but Sango shook her head saying that it didn't fit the dress code. I pouted and kept looking with her. In the end, I wore flare jeans and a glittery blue tank top. I fell in love with the tank top. It was so sparkly and glittered every time I moved just an inch! Sango wore something very similar: pair of flare jeans, and a hot pink tank top with white wavy stripes running from her left shoulder to her right hip.   
  
"The stripes will glow when they turn on the dark lights!" she told me.  
  
We applied our makeup, pulled back out hair into ponytails, and stuffed some money for food in our pocket. Mrs. Kashiyama didn't even let us ask: she demanded that she give us a ride to Miroku's.  
  
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Kashiyama!" I smiled widely.  
  
"Oh don't think much of it, dear, I just don't want any…one… picking you up on your way there…" her eyes narrowed.  
  
Sango and I glanced at each other.   
  
We stepped into the car and Mrs. Kashiyama drove us to Miroku's house.   
  
"You girls look great!!" She called after us as we arrived and exited the vehicle.  
  
We waved and smiled as we continued up the steps to the front door.   
  
I barely had to touch the doorbell when it flew open.  
  
"LADIES~!! I'M SOOOO GLAD THAT YOU COULD MAKE IT!!" Miroku yelled and swept his arm showing that we were permitted to enter.  
  
"WHY *THANK YOU*, MIROKU!!" I hollered back.  
  
He completely ignored me.  
  
"Sango, my dear, may I have the first dance?" He asked her on bended knee.  
  
"Miroku asked everyone that…" Minami said, while climbing the stairs from the basement.   
  
"Why on *earth* am I not surprised…." I muttered.  
  
"Watch out, Sango…he'll be asking for a piece of your butt in a second." Haruna rolled her eyes.  
  
I rolled mine too and Miroku (as usual) tried to look offended.  
  
"Back down stairs!!" Yumi called.  
  
"Why, so we can keep kicking your butt?" Sayori yelled after her.   
  
"Sayori and Minami are playing Haruna and Yumi at Dead or Alive 3." Miroku told us. "They all suck, if you ask me. I creamed all of 'em easily."  
  
"You never told me you had that game!" I told him.  
  
"Oh. I have that game!" He responded intelligently.  
  
"And so far I'm the only player he calls 'competent'." Sango muttered.  
  
"Hah! He ain't seen nothing! Miroku!! I challenge you!!!" I yelled at him.  
  
He raised his eyebrows at me. "Very well. …just don't cry when you lose: Your mascara will run."  
  
Sango looked at me. "For that you've *got* to cream him."  
  
"Have no fear."   
  
Miroku swiftly kicked the four girls off the X-box and passed me player 2's controller. He chose Tina and put her in her…cowgirl costume….I won't say more, other than Sango hit him for it…. While I chose Random.   
  
"Pretty confident, are we?" he teased me while picking the 'random' scene.   
  
"Like I said, you ain't seen nothing."  
  
Heh. I got Ayane. My favourite and best player.   
  
Needless to say his ego got the better of him and I whipped him. All 3 rounds.   
  
"One more round!!" He yelled and pressed the "again" button.   
  
The scene changed and I got Hayabusa.   
  
Heh. I whipped him again.   
  
"Th-th-that's not fair!!" he spluttered. "You can do the best move in the game!!"  
  
"It took lots of practice." I chortled at his expression. "Want me to pass you a hankey, Miroku-CHAN?"  
  
Sango snickered. The doorbell rang.  
  
"That'll be Tadashi." Minami chirped and leapt up to get the door.  
  
We heard brief conversation and then a "SHE BEAT HIM?? THE GREAT MIROKU??"  
  
Miroku turned red.  
  
"OH SHUT UP!!" he yelled.  
  
Insert soft snickering from spectators here___________________.   
  
Tadashi thundered down the stairs and gave me a high-five. "It's about time someone beat him. Maybe that'll shrink his head a little…."  
  
More muttering from Miroku.   
  
***  
  
6:45 rolled around…   
  
"We should start walking to the school…" Miroku stated.  
  
"HAH! You're just saying that so that I can't beat you again!!" I shouted gleefully.  
  
Score:  
  
Me: 10 Miroku: 0  
  
Tadashi suddenly had a thoughtful look about him. "You know, I wonder if you could beat Inuyasha…"  
  
"When'd you play him?" Miroku asked while his character flew through the air and landed on its head.   
  
"I ran into him in a game store. I played him there. He was awesome! The game had just come out and he was doing moves I didn't know existed."  
  
"I might play him sometime." I answered while watching my character land on the stomach of Miroku's and grind him into the floor.   
  
"Anyways, we should start walking to the school." Sango seconded Miroku's idea. "Sometimes they start letting people in early."  
  
"Ah, very well then…" I responded.   
  
We quit the game and crowded into the front hall. Miroku sweetly said his farewells to his mother and we left for the school.  
  
Sango was right, they were letting people in early: we got in as soon as we arrived there. There was a beat pulsing and our group crowded around the DJ table that was the host of the flashing, colourful lights. It wasn't long before the dance was in full swing. I saw Inuyasha and Kikyo out by the side when 'The Anthem' by Good Charlotte came on, and I could see the longing look in Inuyasha's eyes to join us…but Kikyo looked like she was enjoying herself by standing there looking "hot" *cough COUGH!!!*. I made a motion for him to come and join us and Miroku caught my gesture. He also made a welcoming motion with his hands and Inuyasha sighed. He muttered something to Kikyo who protested but followed him to our group.   
  
Inuyasha started talking avidly to Miroku and Tadashi while Kikyo just stood there looking rather bored.  
  
"Dance!" I yelled to her, letting her know she was welcome if she wanted.  
  
"Make me." She responded acidly.   
  
I don't think she would know kindness if it danced naked in front of her.   
  
Ah well.   
  
We continued dancing and I heard eavesdropped the boys conversation. I noticed Sango doing the same.   
  
"Inuyasha, we've found you a challenger!" Tadashi announced.  
  
"The hell are you talking about?"  
  
"Dead or Alive 3! Miroku was whipped!"   
  
"Yea, well you didn't play, now did you?" Miroku retorted.  
  
"Who is he?" Inuyasha asked with interest, "And how am I supposed to know if he's competent? I've only ever played Tadashi so I don't know how good Miroku is."  
  
"Miroku's a little better than I am."  
  
"And it's not a he, it's a she."  
  
"Yea, Miroku was down in like…10 seconds flat when she played him."  
  
"Who??" Inuyasha demanded again and now looked interested.  
  
They were either about to tell him or keep teasing him about it when "Don't Speak", by No Doubt played. Kikyo snapped out of her glazed look and snatched Inuyasha. She practically leapt at him and he looked startled. I snickered at him and he responded with a frosty glare. Shrugging, and wandered over to where Miroku was pleading Sango to dance with him. I watched Sango sigh and give in and Miroku positively beamed. I rolled my eyes and stood over by the gym wall. With Minami, Sayori, Yumi, Haruna, and Tadashi. We were all standing around expectantly looking for a lonely and worthy guy to ask us to dance.   
  
Tadashi finally sighed impatiently and said, "Ok fine! Minami will you dance with me?"  
  
Minami looked genuinely shocked, but quickly recovered and accepted with a larger-than-normal-smile.   
  
And then there were four.  
  
Sayori, Haruna, Yumi and I all stood against the wall together. The three of them started calmly chatting while I stared at the pretty lights…..they were so hypnotizing…  
  
Suddenly, Yumi nudged my arm and I jolted out of my trance.  
  
"Wha-?"   
  
"I suggest you hide in the crowd…your boyfriend has just arrived and he doesn't look too amused…"  
  
Naraku had indeed just entered the gym and 10 or so other guys entered with him.  
  
I gulped and thanked her.   
  
I wove my way amongst the crowd of dancing couples, much to their and my dismay. I imagine that when you dance with someone you want to be dancing with, you don't want to have to budge to an 'excuse me please'. I was well aware that I was interrupting many romantic auras, but it was also to save my own skin. It was certainly annoying to be ignored when I politely asked to push by to be in the middle of the crowd.   
  
"Move!" I muttered to a couple that not only ignored me but started kissing right in front of me. I barged past them, blowing them sideways until I was comfortably hidden in the middle of the crowd.   
  
Hm…Naraku must have seen the kissing couple fly through the air or something cause he was still coming right at me…  
  
He was very ungentle with the way he was shoving his way towards me. I stood and prayed he was walking towards someone else…the DJ table perhaps…I hoped…I prayed…  
  
…Too bad for me…  
  
"Hello, baby…" he said in a very dangerous tone.  
  
A baby am I? Well two can play the age game.  
  
"Well hello, old man! I see you found me. Now why don't you toddle back to your nursing home and let me—ouch!" he twisted my arm.  
  
"Very funny, Kagome, darling. Now why don't we dance together and you tell me why you didn't wait at your house for me to pick you up? Oh that's right… you were going to Sango-chan's house, now weren't you? Yes, and the woman with the bricks in her purse…I remember now…"  
  
I was contemplating another witty remark about the purse rattling his brains a bit and instead of the nursing home, perhaps a doctor or a little lie down in a jail cell would suffice to make him a better person…until he brought Sango and her mother into the scene. It annoyed me that he added the friendly 'chan' to the end of her name and it also worried me.   
  
"Leave them out of this. They were only sticking up for me." I told him in an equally dangerous tone…the only difference was that mine held a shade of fear in it.   
  
He chuckled darkly, "But you see, baby, they won't learn their lesson if I just let it be… In fact, it might even happen again, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"  
  
"You know," I hissed venomously, "if you weren't terrorizing me at all any more, there would be no chance of it happening."  
  
"Yes, but if you would just *cooperate*, instead of fighting me, you wouldn't be terrorized…"  
  
I could see myself reaching a dead end. "But I don't want to cooperate with someone who tries to unfairly run my life."  
  
Heh. Answer that, you twit.  
  
"Who else would run it then?"  
  
That was a poisoned barb he stuck at me and it made me angry.  
  
I threw him away from me. "I would run my own life, asshole. I'm perfectly capable and I don't need your help. Back off and let me be. Besides, boyfriends aren't supposed to do that. Fathers are. You are not my father."   
  
I stomped away as the music changed back to lively, but that didn't stop me from hearing his retort: "Yes, but you don't have a father, Kagome. Seeing as only you and I know why, I think that because I'm keeping it secret that you should at least be able to thank me by staying by my side as mine."   
  
I stopped and tried to push my anger and fury down as I marched back to Sango and my friends, but it didn't work.  
  
Instead of rejoining them, I turned and ran for the bathrooms.   
  
There was no one inside the unnaturally white room as I flung myself inside one of the small cubicles and cried.   
  
I hate him. I hate him so much. My father… how *dare* he use that as a threat!! I missed my father so much as I leaned up against the wall of the stall. If he was here, he wouldn't let his only daughter be threatened like this. He was strong and he believed in me… when he died, my whole world turned upside down. So did my mother's, which is why I didn't want her to know about my dilemma. I was no longer Daddy's little princess… I was nobody's princess… Sure I tried to be strong and cool on the outside…but on the inside I'm just a girl. A weak little girl who's too scared to go get help from people she trusted because she loved them and didn't want them to get hurt.   
  
"I am so pathetic." I whispered to myself. "I can't let him hurt Sango and her mother. It's not right. What if…what if I tried cooperating again…? Would that work?"   
  
The thought mortified me but at the same time it seemed like the safest way out. Mind you it wasn't exactly a way out…but it was a start.  
  
But I wasn't gonna start tonight.   
  
Nope, tonight I was going to party like there was no tomorrow: with my friends.  
  
I could only hope that if I 'behaved' and did everything Naraku told me to do, he would get bored of me and perhaps stop seeing me as a challenge, and then chase someone else.  
  
I exited the stall and listened to the 'click-clack' of my shoes on the tile floor. At the sink, I washed off my face as delicately as I could so to not wash off the eye shadow that I had so carefully applied earlier, but so to rub off the mascara shadow under my eyes.   
  
As I scrubbed at my face a few girls entered the bathroom and, shooting me disapproving looks, they entered stalls and proceeded to do what they came in to the bathroom to do.  
  
I stared at my reflection in the mirror.   
  
My eyes were red and so were my eyelids around them. I looked pathetic.   
  
But as I said, perhaps that's who I was. Pathetic. Maybe my personality matched my tear-soaked face to a T.   
  
No…it couldn't.  
  
I smiled a weak smile.  
  
Empty.  
  
I smiled a larger smile and thought of Sango and Tadashi and Sayori and Miroku and the rest of my friends and then focused at the mirror.  
  
There was Kagome Higurashi. I knew I was looking at myself when I smiled.   
  
I reapplied my makeup and returned to the dance, where my friends asked me where I'd gone.   
  
I shrugged it off and then joined them with smiles and by shaking my hair around like they were as the beat of the song consumed me.   
  
***  
  
"Wow…she cannot sing…" I heard Haruna dully mention.  
  
I glanced up at the karaoke machine where a girl was "singing". I quote the word because I think that's what she was trying to accomplish.  
  
"Can you do better?" I asked.  
  
She rolled her eyes like it was the most *obvious* thing in the world. "Of course I can do better. *anybody* can do better than *she* can!!"  
  
"Go ahead then." I said bluntly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Go sign up! Sing after she does."  
  
"Tell you what. I'll do it if you do it after I do. Deal?"  
  
The girls watched me. There were about 50 people in the room and I wasn't *entirely* confident with my singing voice, but what the heck, right? Plus if Haruna was going to do it first…  
  
"Deal."  
  
Miroku whooped, "I'll judge!!"  
  
"You're only going to judge their figures." Sango retorted dryly.  
  
"Sango I'm hurt… …and yet I'm so pleased that you know me so well!"  
  
She whacked him lightly with a set expression.  
  
Haruna and I floated over to the table to sign up and pick a song.  
  
Haruna chose "I wanna be bad" by Willa Ford, while I flipped through the book and was pleased when I found "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera.   
  
After Ms. I-couldn't-sing-even-if-I-was-hanging-over-a-vat-of-boiling-water-to-save-my-life-and-it-would-be-best-if-I-never-picked-up-a-microphone-again-so-as-to-spare-the-ears-of-all-who-happen-to-be-listening, Haruna got up and the pop music started playing through the speakers.   
  
In all, I think she did a decent job but she was trying to mimic the original artist and didn't do so well at that.  
  
Oh boy.  
  
My turn.  
  
I nervously walked up and I saw the words appear on the screen of the T.V and started to relax. I didn't even need the T.V because I'd heard the song so many times and had sung along.  
  
I closed my eyes and imagined that I was in my bedroom, holding my hair-brush as a microphone, with my music blasting and I just sang along when Christina was supposed to. When the song ended, I opened my eyes and returned the mic. to the table where the sign ups were.  
  
"Great job, Kagome!" the guy there told me.  
  
I gave a small smile to him and then returned to my friends.  
  
"Kagome wins." Tadashi declared.  
  
"You were definitely better than Haruna; No offence at all Haruna!!" Sayori quickly said.  
  
"None taken. You did well." She told me.  
  
"Wow, you must have really sucked then, cause I know I did terrible." I teased her.  
  
"Nuh-uh, Haruna did well, and you know it." Sango shook her head.  
  
"Cool." I responded bluntly. "So what's my prize?"  
  
They all looked at each other.  
  
***  
  
Well, they decided that it was good enough to pitch in about six cents each and buy me a pop.  
  
Hmph.   
  
Ah well. It was better than nothing, right?   
  
But then they were mean and threatened to leave me and go back to the dance floor so I had to chug and I am not good at that.  
  
Chugging pop and then trying to jump up and down to music isn't great either.   
  
Urgg.   
  
Ah well, when the next slow song came on, it was really hilarious. Kikyo *and* Naraku didn't even look at each other (I guess) as they grabbed each other and danced. It wasn't entirely hard to see why Naraku thought I was Kikyo. Aside from the fact that her hair is twice as long as mine, and she was wearing a completely different outfit, we have similarities and I'll give him that it's dark.   
  
But how in the dickens did Kikyo think that Naraku was Inuyasha??  
  
Maybe she's blind in the near-dark.   
  
Who knows?  
  
Who cares?  
  
Not me!!  
  
Lalala!!!  
  
Hm…Inuyasha seemed to care though. I saw him begin to stalk over to them but, as you can see this was a lovely opportunity for me to *not* have to dance with the Ugly King.   
  
I ran over and tugged on Inuyasha's t-shirt sleeve.  
  
"What??" he spat at me.  
  
"Ok, could you, just this once, not think of yourself," I glanced over, "and Kikyo? Could you think of doing a little favor for me and just let it be for this song?" I pleaded.  
  
Gods, he gave me an astonished look as if the thought had never crossed his mind.  
  
"Pretty please?" I added.  
  
He looked unfazed for a moment but then pursed his lips and turned away.   
  
Then Kouga found me.  
  
Help!!!  
  
"Sweet buttercup born amongst the stars, will you dance with me?"  
  
"I, uh…I already have a dance partner!!" I desperately grabbed for Inuyasha's arm and dragged him towards me.  
  
It was either Inuyasha or someone already dancing.  
  
Kouga's "dashing" look dissolved into a disappointed look. "Oh."  
  
"Are you sure you wouldn't want to dance with him, Kagome? I don't mind one bit." Inuyasha told me with pretend kindness.  
  
"Oh, no, not this time." I told Kouga while digging my nails into Inuyasha's neck to shut him up.  
  
He turned away and left.   
  
Inuyasha winced. "Geeze, did you file your nails into points? People are going to be asking me if I was bitten by a vampire or something now!"   
  
"Oh whoops." I replied dryly. "It's just for instead of trying to set it up so that I'm dancing with someone who should die, you tried to switch it so I would dance with someone who should have tomatoes thrown at him for eternity."  
  
"Tomatoes?"  
  
"Yea… The fruit commonly mistaken for a vegetable? Come in several different types? Grow in many different countries? Delicious to—"  
  
"Yea, yea, I know what a tomato is! I'm just wondering what made you think that Kouga should have tomatoes thrown at him."  
  
I glanced over at him attempting to breakdance to attract attention. Sadly, the only person I think he will end up attracting is a paramedic. "Do I really need to elaborate?"  
  
Inuyasha followed my stare.   
  
"No." he muttered.   
  
I must admit it was really nice dancing with Inuyasha. I've actually never (and don't be surprised by this) danced with anybody other than Naraku. Ever. I'm not entirely proud to say that my first "real" slow dance was with Inuyasha, but there wasn't anybody else that I would have really preferred.   
  
Of course the girls were going to giggle and squeal afterwards that I danced with someone. Yea-hoo. I noticed Sango and Miroku looking our way (they were dancing together again ^.~) and Miroku gave me a wink and thumbs up. I rolled my eyes. I was really hoping that Inuyasha was sort of enjoying himself. I know I'm not Kikyo, but as long as he wasn't bored, I suppose that would be ok.   
  
Not-so-abruptly, the romantic music dissolved into a beat and then we all heard a shriek and then a roar. Roar from Kikyo, shriek from Naraku.   
  
Just kidding, just kidding.   
  
I charged away from Inuyasha to my friends so that Naraku and Kikyo wouldn't have caught us dancing together. In fact, for bonus, I ran out of the main gym to the karaoke room and then turned around and returned to the main gym. Naraku and Kikyo were in the middle of a heated battle and Inuyasha was dutifully behind Kikyo, trying to coax her into just letting it be.  
  
"Let it be?? LET IT BE?? DO YOU KNOW WHO I JUST DANCED WITH??"   
  
Inuyasha looked tired. "Yes, Kikyo, I do know. And just so you know I'm not angry at him if you are. If you're upset, then it clearly was not on purpose." He turned and gave Naraku a hard glare, "It was not on purpose, was it?"  
  
Naraku went from angry to shocked to angry again, "As if I'd dance with that whore on purpose!" he said, lip curling.   
  
"Take that back." Inuyasha hissed.  
  
"Why should I? The truth hurts, you know."  
  
"Take…that…back…" Inuyasha repeated with a greater threat.  
  
"I don't have to." Naraku sneered.  
  
Inuyasha looked like he was going to punch Naraku so I decided to keep Inuyasha out of trouble. It was, after all, my fault that Inuyasha had not gone over to break them apart in the first place. Mind you, if he had of done it himself, I think that this scene would have played out anyways but just during a calmer song and would have been way out of context. I mean, "Headstrong" was playing so the lyrics of the chorus seemed to be spurring them on.  
  
Ah well. Time for kamikaze. I ran between the two enemies.  
  
"Alright, you two, that's enough. We don't need you guys getting suspended, now do we?" I asked them reasonably.   
  
Inuyasha relaxed a bit as that sentence sunk in while Naraku turned his glare towards me and added a little ironic eyebrow. "You wouldn't be sticking up for him, now would you be, Kagome dear?" I was surprised to hear that he sounded almost bored.  
  
"No, I'm trying to talk some sense into the two of you." I told him irritably. "I mean, you were lucky to get away with only cleaning lunch tables last time but other people could get hurt here."  
  
Kikyo glared at me. "I *DID* get hurt last time."  
  
"Right. But what I'm saying is that it's more crowded here and *more* people could get hu—"  
  
"*You* kicked me, last time I checked." Kikyo continued with malice.   
  
"Oh! That's right, I did too, didn't I? I thought you were referring to when Naraku punched you in the face. Compared to that, I wouldn't have remembered a tiny little tap on the leg. But that's not the point." I went on as her eyes darkened. "The point is, is that the two of you are behaving appallingly for 15-year-olds. Are you 15 or are you 3? If you are 3, then you shouldn't be here. You should be in bed right now. If you are 15, act like it."   
  
I whirled around on my heel and left, making it no more of my business.  
  
When I didn't hear anybody scream, I assumed that my little speech had been successful. I was relatively surprised but pleased and I managed to enjoy a few more songs. There was yet again another slow song (ooooh, biiiiiig surprise) and I managed to avoid Naraku. Amazingly.   
  
"Oi, Kagome! You wanna dance?"   
  
I gave Tadashi a half smile, "Sure. But where's Minami?" I added.  
  
"Taking a break." He replied confidently.   
  
I found that dancing with Tadashi is very different than dancing with Inuyasha. I was a little more at ease with Tadashi cause I knew him better, and I also found that I didn't have the rare case of 'butterfly in the stomach' syndrome (like what I had experienced with the last romantic song).  
  
ANYWAYS…  
  
I stared at the pretty lights for a bit but then got bored. I realize that when dancing with someone, you are not likely to want to make conversation with your partner, but I was, well, *just* a tiny bit bored. "So, you like Minami, eh?"  
  
Tadashi blushed. "How do you know?"  
  
I nearly whacked him. "EVERYBODY knows!! It's so obvious you like her!"  
  
"phfft. Yea well. So what if I do. Do you think she likes me back?"  
  
"Tadashi…she likes smart people…so stop acting like a dim-wit and figure it out!! YES she likes you back."  
  
There was that light in his eyes that you can get when you're so totally happy.  
  
Good for the boy. I saw my own problem walking around near by and with all good intentions, I told Tadashi to go and sit with Minami. As he shuffled over to her, I waltzed off to avoid Naraku.   
  
Ah but somehow I managed to forget that Naraku's little minions are getting paid to keep an eye on me and one of them grabbed hold of my wrist and made some sort of finger signal in the air and in like .5 seconds, my dear old boyfriend was over here with his arms around my waist.   
  
Remind me to scrub myself down when I get home, ok?  
  
Not that I'll forget to.   
  
"Naraku, why do you ever bother coming to the dances?" I asked him. "You don't actually dance here."  
  
"Well you're going, so I need to. Besides, I enjoy dancing with you."  
  
"Well, I don't like dancing." I lied. "And just because I'm going doesn't mean that you need to force yourself to come."   
  
"Tut tut, I couldn't leave you unguarded here amongst all of these lonely boys."  
  
"I'm well respected enough that they back off when I yell at them." I replied harshly.  
  
He narrowed his eyes at me, "What are you implying, Kagome."  
  
"That it would be nice if you did that every now and then and gave me some peace." I snarled.  
  
He slapped me.   
  
It wasn't hard, just a warning, but I still felt my jaw drop and the tears prickle at my eyes.  
  
I looked up at him like a disobedient puppy and saw the hardness in his eyes. "Don't talk to me like that, Kagome. I am going to break you and you will stop running away."  
  
I turned away with my hand up against my soar cheek and stumbled back to the wall.   
  
I sat and hunkered down against the wall and wrenched my elastic out of my ponytail, causing my hair to fall around me and hide my face.  
  
He'd never hit me before, but then I'd never had the courage to snap at him.   
  
Ouch. It didn't actually hurt, it just stung. But he hit me. Boys aren't supposed to hit their girls.   
  
Screw him, I thought viciously and I cleared my eyes just as I felt the air pulse again with "Punk Rock 101". I brushed my hair out of my eyes and started to stand up when Sango poked me on the shoulder.  
  
"What's up?" she asked me.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're eyes are red."  
  
"And….is that a hand mark on your cheek? Only *I* get those!!" Miroku asked me incredulously.  
  
I cast my eyes downward. "So?" I whispered.  
  
"Who hit you, Kagome? I know you wouldn't do anything unreasonable to deserve it," demanded Sango.  
  
I turned my gaze up to her, "I talked back."  
  
Miroku looked disgusted, "he HIT you? For that?? For heaven's sake!! You're not his *kid*!!"  
  
"I've already…mentioned…that to him."  
  
"And that's why he slapped you." Sango understood.   
  
I nodded. "But I told him rather rudely and so he seemed to feel the need to 'put me in line.'"  
  
Miroku cracked his knuckles but I stuck an arm out. "Miroku, don't. That would be stupid."  
  
"So what…you're gonna let him get away with it??"   
  
I paused.  
  
"Go on!! You can do better than that!" he urged.  
  
"Miroku, I don't want any trouble, and I certainly don't want you to get hurt." He made a sound of protest but I shushed him. "Next time. If he hits me again, I'll let you know and I won't hold you back."  
  
"Well, I suppose you have good judgment, Kagome." He huffed.  
  
"Thanks." I smiled.  
  
He turned away and joined Tadashi, and Inuyasha. I was sure Miroku was passing info over that Naraku had abused me by the looks on their faces and expressions.  
  
"Do you think they're forming a lynch group or something?" Sango asked me.  
  
I shrugged.  
  
I'm just glad I've got so many fans.   
  
Ok, ok, friends.  
  
Anyways, in total I enjoyed the rest of the dance and neglected to mention my plan of boring Naraku into leaving by cooperating.   
  
We gathered outside after the dance and waited for our rides.  
  
"Hey Kagome! Wanna get together this weekend?"   
  
I grinned at Sango. "Perhaps!"  
  
"I'll call you!" she yelled.   
  
"Ok!"  
  
With that I walked away when someone poked me on the shoulder. I whirled around and to my surprise, I came face to face with Inuyasha.  
  
"Hey…um…I…uh….I just wanted to let you know that I heard you sing with the karaoke thingy," I blushed but let him continue, "and I think you did great. You've got a great singing voice." He quirked a smile at me and then turned away.  
  
"THANKS!" I called after him. "By the way!" he turned and looked at me, "Thanks for saving my butt! It was nice dancing with you!!"  
  
His mouth twitched into another smile and then shrugged and left.  
  
"Somebody's got a crush~!" a voice sang into my ear.   
  
I jumped with surprise, "Tadashi!!"  
  
He snickered and my expression changed.  
  
"First of all, don't sneak up on me. Second…I do *not* have a crush on Inuyasha."  
  
I rolled my eyes as he laughed at me again. "Whatever." He said.  
  
"Yea…whatever…anyways, I'll see you on Monday."  
  
"Later."  
  
Crush?? CRUSH???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhewishes.  
  
Nah, I didn't have a crush on Inuyasha. I mean, he's already got a girlfriend. A werewolf, perhaps, but a girlfriend nonetheless. Bah. And if I did have a crush on him, so what? Hmph.   
  
"Good night Kagome." Arms circled me.  
  
"Good night." I replied sharply.   
  
"I will have you at my house on Sunday."  
  
"Sure. Pick me up then."  
  
I left.  
  
Break me. Hah. He won't break me. I won't be broken. He can sure as hell try, but it won't work.   
  
That's final.  
  
***  
  
Oooook……..i'm not entirely sure I did a great job on that chapter, but I hope the majority of you liked it. Let me know when you review.  
  
Second, I have an…amusing idea for the next chapter…it involves a prank on Inuyasha…I hope I get around to it soon..—  
  
Review!!  
  
=^.^= 


	6. WhooHoo, Insanity!

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em.

Wow….it's been, what, a year? Please leave a review for me of what you think of my writing. I started writing this chapter nearly right after I finished the last but then wrote the ending recently, so it's kind of a different style. I hope you all like it, if you don't, let me know what I can do to appeal to everybody.

Chapter 6

Woo-Hoo, Insanity!

_I followed the path because I had to…something told me a surprise would await me at the end… I heard cheering and the crackling of a flame so I ran harder. Then there was Inuyasha and Sango waiting for me at the end.  
'This is what you've always wanted, right, Kagome?' Inuyasha asked me.  
I looked past him and he faded away, leaving my view clear. Naraku's head was impaled upon a spike and there were flames crackling at the base of the spike. I started to laugh insanely at the head and then—_

"KAGOME!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

"PHONES FOR YOU!!"

"HE'S DEEEEEEEEAAAAAAADDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NYAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!"

I looked around at the foggy colours of my still-hazy room and realized that I was no longer laughing at the spiked head.

Souta looked at me funny.

"DAMN! It was just a dream…" I muttered, as he left. I fell back in to that 'just woke up on a Saturday morning' faze.

Just how I _always_ wanted to wake up. With your little brother screaming in your ear that the phone was for you.

I glanced at my clock. 9:00

This phone call had better be good. It's Saturday, for heaven's sake. Only morons get up this early on Saturday (what do you think that tells you about my brother?).

"Hullo?"

"_Kagome!!__ Hey, I hope I didn't wake you up!"_

Sango is a moron.

"nyea…u did….." I replied groggily. My room was finally coming into focus.

"_Oh well—"_

"Oh well? Whaddya mean 'oh well'??" I slurred. "It's only 9!!"

"_Kagome…it's already 9…I was wondering if you wanted to get together with me."_

"Oh! Ok…what do ya wanna do?"

"_I was hoping to do some shopping and such._"

"Oh, ok. Cool."

"_Can I pick you up at 10? Or is that…too early?_"

I caught the teasing in her voice. Hah. I'll show her too early…

"Of course not! I'll be ready!!"

"_Oh, and I want to show you my new camera! I'll bring it!_"

"Mmkay, cool."

"_Bye, then!_"

"Bye…" I hung up.

I placed the phone on my night table and then lay back into bed again.

I love my bed. It's just an extra long twin bed, but it is so comfortable. My bed is what makes sleeping worthwhile and if I die at an early age (for _whatever_ reason) I hope I die in my sleep, in this bed.

And then I realized that I only had an hour to apply my makeup, eat breakfast, get dressed, shower, and be perfectly ready to be out the door (Obviously not in that order). I leapt up like a leaping thingamagigit, and ran into the bathroom to run the water for my shower.

I am not a quick person in the shower. The water sprinkled down my body and I turned on the shower CD player that was hanging on the showerhead. I have fallen in love with the song 'More to life' by Stacie Orrico, so that was the CD in the player already and I just blasted the song and sang along at the top of my lungs. After all, last night people were telling me how great my voice was so what was wrong with showing off?

The door banged open.  
"Gramps says to kill the dieing cat." Souta innocently told me.  
"Tell Grandpa that he has no appreciation for modern pop music." I replied curtly and turned up the music even more.  
"Sure thing, sis. Just don't yell at me when you're grounded."  
"Oh come on. I sound good, don't I?" I asked from behind the shower curtain.  
"Yea, a little."  
"Get out of here."   
The door closed after him and I resumed my singing.

Inuyasha said I sounded good.

Now where did that come from?

I scrubbed my Herbal Essences shampoo in to my hair and inhaled the scent. I love the smell.

'_There's gotta be more to life…'  
_"**THAN CHASING DOWN EVERY TEMPORARY HIGH**!!" I screamed, hopefully in tune.  
'_To satisfy me…Cause the more that I'm—'  
_"**TRIPPING UP THINKING THERE MUST BE MORE TO LIFE, WELL IT'S LIFE, BUT I'M SUUUUUUUUURE THERE'S GOTTA BE MOOOOOOOOOOOOORE**!!!"  
'_Than wanting more_'

The door banged open again. Geeze! Can't a family let a girl shower?? It's one of the most important parts of a beauty routine!!

"KAGOME!! SHUT THAT # THING OFF!!!"  
Wow…I didn't know that grandpa knew that word.  
"WHY??"  
"CAUSE IT'S MAKING A BLOODY RACKET AND GIVING ME A HEADACHE!!"

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAF!!!"

"I'LL PRETEND I DIDN'T HEAR THAT! TURN IT DOWN!!!"  
I turned down the music a bit. "Better?"  
"I suppose it'll have to." He huffed. "Teenagers…"  
I still sang at the top of my lungs as I washed out the shampoo and the water ran down my face.

I shook out my hair while the water continued to wash down it and I felt my sopping wet hair swoosh around and slap me on the back. After clicking the back button again to hear the song over again, I rang out the water in my hair so that it was damp, and I applied my conditioner.

He really said I sounded good. Inuyasha…

And he smiled at me!

Shut up, self.

I rubbed cucumber-melon soap all over me and then stood under the showerhead again. After getting out, I glanced at the clock on the wall. 9:30. Wow, I took a longer shower than usual. It was refreshing and regenerating though. And I had fun. Dressing myself in low-rise jeans and a baby-tee, I ran downstairs and shoveled some toast into my mouth.

"What are you doing up so early?" my mother raised her eyebrows at the time.

Ha-de-ha-de-ha, how witty.

"Going out with Sango. I think we're going to the mall, and she wanted to show me her new camera."  
"When's she picking you up?"  
"10. And can I have some money?" I pleaded.  
My mother sighed, "How much do you want and we'll see if we can compromise."  
"Well, I'll want a new shirt or two, and possibly if I'm lucky I'll find a pair of jeans, and then I'll need a decent lip-gloss, so…30?"  
My mother's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "30?? **30**?? I'm not made of money, Kagome. Here, I'll give you a 20." She shoved the bill into my hands.   
What an old miser.

"Thanks mom!" I replied cheerfully, knowing that if I had of just asked for a 20, she would have given me a 10 or 15.  

I raced back up to my room realizing that I may have gotten 30 if I had of asked for a 50…

Applying minimal make-up, cause I think I look good with just a touch a mascara and a hint of lip-gloss, I was soon at the front door waiting for my friend.

When the bell rang, I jumped up and opened the door, revealing Sango in denim flares with a tank top on and a denim jean jacket over top. She wore her hair pulled back into the usual high ponytail, with a visor on.   
"Let's go!" she exclaimed.

In the car, she got out her camera and showed it to me.   
"It's not digital, but it's snazzy and my own." She grinned. "I'm obsessed with taking pictures now so…smile!!"  
She aimed the camera at my face and didn't even wait for my smile.

click!

"Sango!! That _wasn't_ a smile! Geeze, I probably look like I just saw Inuyasha propose to Koga…" I muttered  
"That's what's gonna make the picture so hilarious! Heh. Blackmail opportunity."  
"haha." I replied sarcastically and shoved her into her door.  
"Oh fine. Smile!"  
I flashed her my best smile and she took the picture.

"I hope we see people we know!" she bounced up and down.    
"For their sake, I hope we don't."  
"Girls?" Mrs. Kashiyama called from the drivers' seat. "I need to stop at the grocery store and it would be really helpful if you girls could just rush in and grab milk and eggs while I pick up bread and a few other things."  
We looked at each other with half expressions.  
"I'll give you girls a few more bucks for helping…" she bribed.   
I nodded at Sango.  
"Sure mom!" she agreed for us.  
"Great."

Mrs. Kashiyama parked the car and the three of us strode into the grocery store. She grabbed a cart and Sango and I grabbed one, too. I know it seems ridiculous that we would get a cart if we're just getting eggs and milk, but eggs and milk are cold items and we don't like just having to hold onto them.   
But first things first. What do you do when you go to a grocery store with a bakery? You go and see if there are samples!! So, we wandered over to the sweets counter to find out what the baker had left out for us to devour today. Apple pie samples! …teeny tiny apple pie samples. …with an evil old lady standing guard behind them. She was one of those falsely sweet ladies who could be your next door neighbour who spied on everything to make sure it was _proper_, or the witch who lived in the haunted house down the road that no body came to see because rumor had it that the last kid who had ventured there was never seen again. How a lady of that type was employed, I have no clue. Probably threatened the manager or something creepy.   
Anyways, she looked like she would barbeque our heads if we took more than one each, so we hid behind one of the isles and devised a plan.

"Ok, Sango. I'll distract her by asking about the fall of Rome, or something like that from her time period, while you just load up this shopping basket."

"Aww, how come you get to do the fun part?" She pouted

"Fine, what do you want to do?"  
"You engage her about the outrageous price of potatoes and then I'll join in and take it from there, while you finish loading."

"The price of potatoes?"

"Sure, isn't that what all old ladies like talking about?"  
"Well, my gran always seemed to bring up how tacos give her the runs, or something nasty like that…"  
"Bring up something that will interest her.

"Deal."

I strode out there, looking like a flashy teen, and flounced up to the counter.

"Good morning, miss, how can I help you?" the lady flashed me a false smile. It's not just false because she doesn't like me already; it's false because her teeth are.

"Oh, you know, nothing much, I'm just figuring out which dessert I should purchase for my mother. It's her birthday tomorrow." I lied.

"I see. Take your time."

"Actually, I'm just wondering if you've ever tried these cakes? I mean, I don't want anything too fattening, or gross, because some cakes have that disgusting icing with too much cream cheese in them."

Sango had now approached with the basket.

"Well, dear, I'd advise our carrot cake, because it is low-fat and the icing is actually very good."  
Sounded good, but I had to keep her going, because she was still oblivious to Sango filling her basket, rapid fire.  
"Urm…that sounds perfect, except…she…she doesn't like carrot cake!"

"Oh, she doesn't? That's too bad."

"I'm also looking for something low-budget."

"Why's _that_, dear?"  
That's not _her_ business! Geeze! My family could be living in the streets, for all she knows and I'm trying to something for my mom cause I scrapped enough money together!! Would a person _really_ want to tell her that??? NO!! Not unless they were idiotic enough to think she'd be sympathetic.

Of course, I'm wearing expensive clothing…  
"Um…because you see, my family was just robbed." I stuttered. That sounded believable. "We had this huge safe that my parents kept all of their money and valuables in and it was broken open one night and everything was gone!" I tried to look tearful.   
Sango passed the basked to me behind us and she picked up the conversation. "Oh isn't that terrible? Surely you saw it on the news!"  
The old witch looked at her and shook her head. "Television! Hah! Teenagers…all they _do_ is sit around and watch television!"  
"Then why do you think we're standing right in front of you?" Sango demanded with her question laced with frost, her eyes narrowing.  
"Oh I suppose that you're parents finally kicked you off the television and told you to do something useful. Mind you I'm surprised that you're actually listening to them. In _my_ day, my father had a cane and he would beat me if I did something I was told not to do. But no," she curled her lip…or what she had left of lips… "I'm sure that you're _daddy's little girl_, aren't you?"  
Sango glared evenly. "My father's dead."  
"Oh, _sorry_." She said, and turned away to do something at the back counter.   
"Yea, I'll bet you are, what with your dad dead in his grave too." Sango hissed.  
The old lady looked absolutely appauled, turning back to her. "Young lady, don't you talk to me in that manner!! In _my_ day, you would have been arrested for being so rude!!"  
"Yes, and in _your_ day we should have been married off already and having 30 kids, but you know what? This is _to_day. Not yesterday."  
"I cannot believe how much kids have changed…disrespectful…"  
"…said the witch who insulted my father." Sango spat back.  
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that someone was watching our little dispute. I looked up. Inuyasha.   
Now why was he here?   
_'Shopping, you idiot! This is a grocery store!!_' I reminded my self.   
He had his eyebrow raised in amusement at our antics and I quirked him a grin. He shrugged and left. Meh. Whatever.  
But Sango and I had collected all of the samples, so I figured that I should split up the fight.  
"Come on, Sango," I interrupted as she was about to insult the old ladies dead cat, "She's not worth our time."   
Sango protested but I managed to drag her away.   
We giggled as we crouched behind an isle and ate at the apple pie.   
"Geeze! What an old grouch!" I whispered.  
"Tell me about it. She should learn how to be polite."  
"Hah, we should tell on her to her manager…"  
We cackled evily.  
"Hey Sango…did your father really die?" I asked softly.

"What? Oh, no. He divorced my mother years ago. I don't miss him much." Her voice trailed off a little.   
"Oh." I sounded a tiny bit disappointed. I was actually wishing that I had someone to talk to who lost the same person. In the same way.   
I whacked myself mentally. That sounded really selfish and I should be happy for Sango.  
Suddenly a shadow stood over us. "Now what are you two up to?"  
For a moment I thought the evil, old, decrepit lady from behind the counter had followed us with a whip, but then looked up into the disapproving face of Mrs. Kashiyama. Wow. I just realized that she still goes by Mrs. Instead of Ms. A bit odd if she's divorced, I think, but no matter. Her choice.  
"We were…" Sango stuttered.  
"Yes??"  
"urm…"  
"Would you like some apple pie, Mrs. Kashiyama?" I feebly asked.  
Her face melted. "Apple? Oh of _course_!! Did you know that it's my absolute _favourite_?" she eagerly took two from Sango's half. "I still don't understand why you're having an apple pie picnic in the middle of the frozen foods isle in the super market…"   
"We were hungry?" Sango tried.  
"And the old—lovely woman," I caught myself, "behind the counter was going to chop us up and hide us under the floorboards if we took more than one, so we took advantage of our situation."   
"Very well. I'll let you get away with it if you share with me."  
"Ok!" we agreed, not wanting to face the woman again.

"wait…where are the milk and eggs?" she asked us first.  
"We haven't gotten those yet…?"   
Mrs. Kashiyama looked at her daughter with out the hint of amusement in her face.  
"ehhehehe…..heh?"   
"That's it, the rest of the apple pie is for me and you're going to get what I originally asked you for."  
We protested…whined…begged…and complained…but then Mrs. Kashiyama threatened to not give us the bribe of a few extra bucks for our troubles so we scampered off.  
"Ok. The diary products are at the end of the store. Wanna go the quick way?" Sango eagerly asked me.  
"The quick way?" I replied hesitantly.   
"Yup! Hop in!!" she pointed to the shopping cart.  
Sango worries me. But I do trust her. What the heck, right?

Wrong.

I hopped in and she started running. Very fast.  
And don't you just _love_ my luck? Guess what? SHE TRIPPED!!   
So picture me in a shopping cart, whizzing down the back of a large grocery store, flailing my arms around in attempt to slow myself down and screaming for someone to help me before I flew out of the cart when I finally collided with the fruit stands up ahead.

But I didn't collide with the fruit stands up ahead, because some suicidal shopper walked out right in front of me (actually they weren't suicidal, they just didn't see me). That specific shopper happened to be Inuyasha.   
Typical.  
He stepped out, I screamed, he turned and looked at me like a deer in the headlights, and yelled back. I smashed into him (picture his eyes bulging) and practically ran over him. The only thing that stopped me from squishing him into the tiled floor was his hands shot up and jerked the cart to a stop.

There was a pause as our lives slowly stopped flashing before our eyes and then Sango staggered up and pulled the cart of off Inuyasha.  
He used the cart to drag himself to his feet and then looked at us like we were mad. At least I had the satisfaction knowing that only _Sango_ was mad, and not I. I was merely the victim of her insanity.   
At least, that's what I like to tell myself.

Haha, I'm so dumb sometimes…

But at that moment in time we all started talking at the same time. I was apologizing for our carelessness and so was Sango, but by the look on Inuyasha's face, he was yelling insanities at us asking why we weren't living at a special treatment center.  
"Look, I said I'm _sorry_!!"

"WHAT THE FCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DO-"

"It was all my fault. It was my idea."  
"I won't sit in a cart again."

"I COULD HAVE _DIED_ BECAUSE OF YOU!!"

"Oh come on, that's a little unreasonable."

"Really, we've apologized."

"…COMPLETELY IGNORANT TO OTHER PEOPLES SAFETY!!!"

"Really, it was an accident, it's not like she _meant_ to trip."

"Shut up already. We apologize!!"

"HAH. I don't believe it." He turned his nose up at us.

Jerk.   
Let's make it perfectly clear that as of now, I do _not_ have a crush on Inuyasha. And that's final.

"Too bad for you, then." Sango sniffed disdainfully.

"Come on, Sango. Let's get the milk and eggs and leave. We've got better things to do than apologize to a deaf ear." I grumbled.  
"True. Hah, I wish I had of gotten a picture of his face. Did you see his eyes bulge?" she giggled as we grabbed the items.

"Of course I saw them. I got a front row view."  
I looked back at him and saw him staring at us with a stumped expression.   
Strange boy.

Well, truth be told, I was still a little P.O'd with Inuyasha. I mean, hadn't we said sorry? Cripes! But no, he ignored our apologies for the image in his mind that we were lunatics.   
He is not far wrong.  
But let me say I was really pleased when he (and Kikyo) coincidentally showed up at the mall!  
Revenge is sooooo sweet!  
Sango and I were innocently trying on different tops and taking pictures of each other when we heard voices.   
"What? No, Kikyo, _I_ can't go in there! It's a _girls_ change room!!"  
"Oh, don't be silly! There's no one else in here! I mean, I'm not asking to make-out!"  
I nearly puked at that image.  
"Here, I really want to see you in this shirt. I'm in the room right next to yours!" she cooed as she shoved him into the room directly across from mine, and then pranced into the one across from Sango.  
The wheels in my head turned quickly as I formulated a plan that involved Sango's camera and Inuyasha's shirt. I will admit that this plan is not mine, I got it from some Hillary Duff music video, but hey, it was amazing that I happened to think of it right at that moment.   
I waited patiently for Inuyasha to humbly come out of the change room and for Kikyo to usher him to look at himself in the mirror at the end of the hall, before dashing into this cubical and steeling his shirt and rushing back.  
Sango heard me cackle evilly and asked what was up, but I shushed her into silence.  
"Hurry and get dressed." I told her in a whisper. "We gotta get going."  
"Uh…"

"Fast!!"  
"Ok…"

"So what are you going to do with his shirt?"  
"Ok, here's the plan…how many pictures are left on your camera?"  
"about…20…"  
"Ok, that should be good."  
"What are we going to do??"  
"We are going to ask different people to put on his shirt and then take pictures of them."  
"Oh, kind of like that dumb music video?"  
"It wasn't that dumb, Sango, but that's exactly it. But when we give him back his shirt, we won't be wearing shirts that say 'You're so yesterday' because that would be copying and stupid and he'd think we were retarded."

"Kagome…we stole his shirt. We are retarded."  
I ignored her. "Anyways, we need to make sure that they don't see us in the process."  
We heard a yell from the change rooms.  
"Hm…That'll be Inuyasha noticing that his shirt is missing." I observed.  
"And now it is time to leave."

"Yep."

We snickered and hurried off to another store.

"Oh…there's a hot looking guy…" I whispered to Sango.  
"We should ask him to wear the shirt…"  
"You know, this could be a good way to meet new guys. I mean, we have a great excuse to introduce ourselves…" I mused.  
Sango laughed back, "Come on!"  
We walked confidently up to he and his friend and they stopped talking and checked us out. Oh this was going to be a good day…  
"Excuse me…" Sango giggled.

"Could we ask you to do us a favour?" I asked smoothly.  
"Sure, sugar, what's up?"

I forced down a gag. Sugar? That was like Naraku calling me 'Kaggie-poo'. Shoot me.   
"Could you put this shirt on so that we could take your picture?"  
"Uh…" he seemed to think this was a strange request.  
"You see, we're playing a prank on my friend so we were really hoping you could help us…" Sango filled in.   
"Alright then!" the guy gave a smile and then pulled off his shirt and then took the one I was holding out. Ooooooooh…six pack…  
"Awesome!" Sango grinned. "Ok, now give me a sexy smile!"   
She took two of him and then his friend put on the shirt and we did the same.  
We thanked them with huge smiles and then walked away.  
  
                      
  
By about 15 pictures, we had many different guys on film and we even convinced a few girls to pretend to be hookers with the shirt on and taking it off (they obviously had their own shirt on underneath but that would have been really funny if they hadn't have…). We had macho guys, geeky guys, stupid guys, intelligent guys. And then we had a few different types of girls as well.  

Well, it was right at that time, when we were thanking another guy for his services, that we heard a "THERE THEY ARE!!" and lo and behold, it was Inuyasha and his widdle girlfriend. They were on the upper level looking down on us and the closest escalator leading down to us was….right next to them…Time to run for our lives. Weeeee!  
We charged into the nearest department stores and decided the way to throw off one of them (Inuyasha) was to head to the nearest lingerie section. It was up to Kikyo whether she wanted to play Heroine and follow us, or 'poor-helpless-pathetic-girlfriend-that-she-is'. We were hoping for the latter.

It was really funny to watch Inuyasha skid to a halt at the beginning of the women's' underwear department. Kikyo, to our horror and his, grabbed his arm and continued to drag him into the dreaded section. I swear she's breaking some taboo by bringing a guy into a women's underwear section.  Well, seeing as invisible, not-really-there barriers weren't going to work, we had to come up with some serious camouflage plan. That, or out-run them.  
Umm…

"A crowd!" I exclaimed, "What we need is a big crowd to get lost in."  
"Ok, but it's not exactly Christmas shopping season." Sango reminded me.   
It was lunch time. And what is the most populated part of a mall at lunch time??   
"Food court!!" I hissed excitedly.  
Running like hell was on wheels at our feet (which it was, just not on wheels), we charged for the food court.

I grabbed the occasional 38 D bra and tossed it back, watching Inuyasha catch it and then stare at it in horror, and then played ring-toss with the occasional thong. Ah, poor guy had to stop and untangle one from his hair and then did the male version of the icky dance while Kikyo scoffed and attempted to drag him on.

We didn't stop running until we were at the other side of the mall and then didn't come out of the women's loo until it was time to meet Sango's mother.  
  
                      
  
The final pictures we took at Sango's house. The first was of Sango wearing the shirt and her tiny gym shorts, posing as a centerfold of Playboy. I wanted her to hold up a sign that said "You Lose," but she said that would be too similar to the 'So Yesterday,' thing. I reminded her that the point wasn't to not be stupid; it was to make Inuyasha's blood boil. Reminding him that he lost would be a great way. Then she asked me where I planned on getting the sign and was it really worth all that effort. Fine.

The second photo was of me doing the 'haha, we took your shirt!!' pose, while wearing the shirt. Picture me with the evilest cackle pointing my finger at the camera. I look just a little unstable… We then discussed how we were going to give them to him. Sango suggested Miroku as a delivery boy, but I then pointed out that if Miroku saw the pictures, Inuyasha wouldn't get half of them, namely the half with the girls posing. Tadashi wasn't much better. Who else? We settled with Miroku, but we'd seal them in an envelope first.   
Sango wanted me to spend the night, but remembering that I had…plans the next day with King of the Creepy (Naraku), I had to apologetically refuse. I decided to not explain to her my plans for tomorrow in case she tried to get involved. I stayed for dinner however, and when I left, she promised to take the pictures to a studio to get them developed tomorrow.

I pulled my jacket tight around me as I walked down the driveway and the breeze picked up. I listened to a song that was playing in my head when the rain started to fall. I sighed. It had been such a nice day. Amazing how quickly clouds could move in. The water droplets hit me lightly in the face, and I could feel my hair dampen, but I stopped walking when I reached the street corner. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back. The rain, steadily getting harder, washed over my face, rinsing it off. I don't know how long I stood there in the pouring rain, but it was one of the most peaceful moments ever. There were no cars driving by, no birds singing, and no people talking. Just the rain and the occasional gust of wind. Me and the rain.   
I was jolted out of my thoughts, however, when the rain randomly stopped, but I could still hear it. Actually it was a more hollow sound. Like an umbrella. I opened my eyes and jumped.  I was right in that it was an umbrella, but there was a person standing close behind me holding it. I spun around and found my face inches away from Naraku's.   
"Do I have some kind of homing device on me or something on me?" I asked rudely. I could be rude if I wanted to be. He spoiled my good mood. I was also wondering how on earth he knew I was here.  
"You're soaking wet." He informed me.  
Thank you, Captain Dipshit, for that _painfully_ obvious statement. I shivered. I realized though that I shivered not just because of his voice that gets under my skin, but because I just realized that…I was soaking wet.   
God, I hate it so much when he's right.   
Truthfully I was freezing right down to my bones.   
Naraku frowned. "You've got a cold." And right then I sneezed. Fcking coincidental timing.   
He pursed his lips and removed his jacket. I was shocked when he placed it around me, after forcing me to remove my wet one.  It didn't make a huge difference, since my shirt was soaking too, but it was warm. In fact, the only problem with it was that its scent was that of Naraku: poisonously acidic.  I mumbled a 'thank you,' anyways. I was having one of my absent brain moments, thinking that perhaps, since he was being nice in a…nice kind of way, he might not be all that rotten on the inside. But luckily I was snapped out of that thought when he placed his arm around me and laced his fingers in between mine. Kissing my neck also added to my resentment.   
"I need to be getting home." I said and started to walk.  
"Nonsense," he replied and reached into a pocket of the coat I was wearing. He pulled out a cell phone and called a number. I briefly heard him say an address, the corner we were on, and then hang up. He told me then, to call my mother and inform her that I'd be staying the night. I blanched but did as I was told. I was likely going to sleep in one of the many guest rooms, and if I was spending tomorrow with him, I may as well be able to sleep in and be right there, then have to get up at gasp nine again and get ready.   
"Hullo?"  
"Hey Souta, put mom on, please."  
"Kay."   
I waited briefly for my mom to pick up the phone.  
"Hello"  
"Hey mom, is it okay if I spend the night at Sango's?"  
I knew she would neeeever let me stay if she knew it was Naraku instead.  I'm not allowed to spend the night at a guys house (obviously) and she didn't know who Naraku was anyways.   
"That's fine."  
"I'm spending the day with a friend too, that ok?"  
"Yes, dear, you told me."  
I did?   
"Sleep tight, honey!"  
"You too, mom."   
I hung up and placed the phone back into its pocket. On normal bases, I would have refused his order, but since I was going along with my simple (but difficult and horrifying none-the-less) plan of being becoming less of a challenge and hopefully boring, I agreed.   
Within minutes, a black limo pulled up. The driver promptly exited the vehicle and opened the door for me. I clambered in a plopped down on the seat, as Naraku walked around the car and got in. He slid into the middle seat, while I buckled in, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. On usual circumstances, I would have pinched the skin on top of his hand, and then removed it for him, but as I have stated, I will force myself to endure it.   
Exhaustion hit me like a brick wall and, as nauseating as this may sound, I found myself leaning against him. The car rolled smoothly and rhythmically over the freshly paved street, and the dimmed lights in the backseat were also pleasurable for my eyes. Naraku slid his arm that was around me, further so that his hand was resting on my tummy. I slammed my eyes shut and begged for sleep to release me. I sighed tiredly and then smiled victoriously as I slipped into unconsciousness.   
  
                      
  
I woke again in someone's arms being carried bridal style. Being carried bridal style isn't all it's cracked up to be. I know, I know, all of the romance stories glorify being carried in his arms and leaning against his chest, but you know what? It's like sitting in a chair that lost its stuffing and fabric. A chair frame. Think about it.  
My back was protesting the longer I—sat? hung?—there. I opened my eyes and, surprise, surprise, found myself being cradled against my 'boyfriend' while he carried me up the stairs. I was momentarily impressed; I'm not exactly light.  But then this guy could probably bench-press my cat. That _is_ saying something…  
I pretended to be asleep, deciding that he'd likely dump me on a bed and let me be. We entered an enormous room that appeared to not be a guest room. If it was, I'd hate to imagine how huge the rest of the house was. A four-poster king sized bed with a canopy lay at the head of the room. The bed sheets and cover were black, but the canopy drapes were a deep maroon red that matched the walls. The floor was black tile to match the bed, as were the black cherry-wood cabinets against the walls. He walked up three steps to the platform that the bed was on and rolled me on to it.   
Here's where I lay on my side, waiting for him to walk away…leave me in peace… Here's where I was wrong. He crawled on to the bed next to me, and that instantly set my guard up. One bad move and I was gonna...  
But he propped himself on his elbow, and stroked my hair. That wasn't really enough to hit him for, was it? I felt him run his long, spidery finger through my wet hair, which by the way, was uncomfortable to lie on.   
He continued to finger my hair, while I was trying to remain there, motionless and 'asleep', but then something unexpected happened. He ran his finger along the side of my face, and that completely blew my 'I'm asleep' cover. His finger was icy cold, and totally uncalled for, so I jumped and my eyes popped open. I didn't have to see him to know he was smiling. Possibly darkly. Evilly. Yea, evilly.   
I rolled on to my back and then turned my head so I could face him. His eyes were hard to read in the dim light, which I noticed were coming from candles around the room. Perhaps it was the half-light, but his face held something other than the norm. The norm being dark. And evil. And 'holier than thou'… Scratch that, 'Eviler than thou'.  The usual look he gave me was 'I-own-you-you-are-mine-and-mine-only!!' If it had been anyone but Naraku, I would have called it tenderness.   
He draped his arm across my stomach and went back to running his fingers through my drenched hair, even while I was watching him. He finally leaned over, kissed my forehead, and then relaxed against the bed.   
My shirt had slid up and with out much delay, I noticed that his hand was touching my belly. I had the strangest feeling he had just dipped his hands into liquid nitrogen, because they certainly _felt_ that cold. Along with the fact that he was acting weird and caring and all that crap that he is _not_, I said something to break the silence.  
"You're hands are cold."  
When in doubt, state the obvious.  
"I was hoping you could warm them up for me." His voice was…seductive? I would have said that he was trying to be that way, and it may have worked a year ago if I hadn't known of his reputation of being a notorious bastard.  It wasn't winning me over, that was for sure. Plus, that was a _horrible_ pick-up line.  
"Perhaps you have forgotten that I was out in the rain." I reminded him dryly. "I'm cold too."  
He smiled broadly at me. He got up and left the room quietly with out a word.   
I was alone.   
  
I was alone!!!  
  
I snuggled and scrunched myself into the pillows. The bed was covered with maroon and black pillows that matched the décor. There were more pillows than I knew what to do with… So, I buried myself in them. I would have gotten into the bed, but there was always the fact hanging over my head that Naraku could return and take that as an invitation. Stretched invitation, but he always split hairs a little too thinly to be fair. So I made a den of pillows (yes there were that many) at the head of the bed.   
The door opened and I heard shoes clack on the floor and then stop a ways away from the bed.  
"Miss Kagome?" a cold, empty voice called.  
It was Kagura. Joooooooy….   
Maybe if I lay very still… Nope, she found me.  
"Miss Kagome, Naraku requests your presence in the recreation room." She made it clear with her glances that she disapproved deeply of my pillow burrow.  Well screw her.   
I don't like Kagura. Is it a little obvious?   
"How many rec. rooms are there this time?" I asked her, very aware of my tousled hair and wrinkled shirt.  
"Three. There is the game room, the TV room, and pool."  
The last house had only had two. An improvement.   
"If you'll follow me, please."  
I just love it how she manages to make it sound like a demand even though the sentence was a request.   
I completed the awkward task of sliding off the bed on to the narrow platform that surrounded it but my hair was still slightly saturated with water so it slapped against my back. Making my shirt even more wet. If that is possible…  
Kagura is one to carry an air of…oh shall we say arrogance? That is one of the reasons I don't like her. She walks with her nose in the air, and her eyes are slightly lidded, so as to give a regal impression. Like Kikyo. Ewwww…  
I always found it odd that she automatically adopted a more submissive tone when Naraku or his father is around.   
I followed Kagura down flights of elegantly constructed staircases, passed and went through ornately carved doorways, until I was bowed into a small closet, type room. The walls were a soft beige colour, the carpet black, and in this room were rows upon rows of bathing suits. Half of the room held female suits, and the other half male.   
"This half of the room is yours. They're all your size." Kagura vaguely motioned to the girls' side of the room.   
I nodded to show I had heard her, but I made no movement to flip through them and pick one.   
I was tired.   
I was cold.  
I was wet.  
I didn't want to get wetter. I really, really wanted to go to bed.   
"Miss Kagome?" Kagura asked in question to why I hadn't moved yet to flip through the suits.   
I sighed. "Please tell Naraku that I would really rather go to bed then drown in the pool."  
"I believe he is waiting in the hot tub."  
Well that was slightly better. Stretching out in the hot, relaxing water sounded like exactly what I wanted. Of course it would be with Naraku, and that was the only problem. As usual. But I wanted to be the ideal girlfriend so he would get bored. Going to bed sounded like a bad idea for the plan.   
I sighed with contempt this time and started flipping through the racks.   
There were all skimpy. I just about saw what I had for dinner at Sango's again as I realized my oh-so-_wonderful_-boyfriend would want to see me in nearly all of them. Calming my disturbed tummy, I turned to Kagura, who was still waiting patiently by the doorway.  
"Is there anything other than bikinis in here? One pieces? Maybe even tankinis?"   
Kagura bowed (almost mockingly) and went to another room for a moment.   
She returned. "Naraku says he would rather you wore one of these."  
That crossed the line.   
"Tell Naraku that that is just too damn bad!" I snapped. "I am not prancing around for him in items that I may as well not be wearing for all they cover!!"   
Kagura bowed with an amused smile on her face.   
"What?" I asked sharply before she could leave.  
"I was wondering when the real you would surface. You're being way too cooperative for normal."  
"Non cooperative's my middle name, is that it?"   
"It always appears to be that way." She left the room to quote me to her boss.   
I stood and waited. Some of these swimsuits were really gross. I mean, more than one were nearly see through. I am not a whore! I do not flaunt myself like that for _anybody_! Not now, certainly. I'm 15 freaken years old!! At least he's never forced me to wear one of those… actually, he's never mentioned it before because I think he's aware I could file a harassment complaint thingy to someone. Not sure who, but I could. But they're all there, nonetheless. I think he's hoping I'll one day go 'I think I'd like him to see me in this!' The day that happens, I'll pull a 2000 pound purple elephant out of my rear.   
"My, what a sour expression."   
I jumped at Kagura's returning comment. "What'd he say?" I asked, scowling at her.  
She tossed me a two piece. My reflexes caught both pieces before they hit the ground and I held it up for inspection. It was black with a rhinestone star explosion on the left side of the top. The top was a strapless that would show all of my skin under my breasts, and it was really low cut, but it was by far much better than the g-strings I saw on the racks. The bottom half were shorts, instead of bikini bottoms. I approved. The only problem I had with the swimsuit was that it was black. The suit itself looked stylish, but on me, it would make my skin look ghostly white. But I wasn't about to complain anymore. A hot tub soak with a decent-ish bathing suit on. And then bed. That seemed to be about as good as it was going to get tonight.

Naraku was watching the door for me, I guess. He was in the hot tub facing me as I entered the room, but I decided to stall a moment and take in the enormous room I was in. The hot tub was big. I don't like to be blunt like that when describing something, but that seemed to work the best. It wasn't normal, in-your-backyard size, but it wasn't too big that it wasn't cozy, and therefore overly spacious. It also wasn't your typical hot tub because it was in the floor like the rest of the pool.   
The pool. Wow. It was enormous. It took up most of the 40 ft by 40 ft room, complete with waterslide.   
"Kagome, you look adorable." Naraku startled me out of my thoughts. Adorable. That one was new, I believe. "Come and warm up with me."  
That sounded almost ominous and threatening… I trotted delicately on my toes over to the hot tub and slid in so that I was opposite to him.   
"Come, Kagome, come over here."   
I gritted in my teeth, forcing my butt to not stay glued and to listen to him.   
_'be the perfect girlfriend…be the perfect girlfriend…HEY STUPID, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU CAME UP WITH _THAT_ IDEA??'_   
I sank lower into the tub, dipped my head under to heat it up, and then floated across the center of the pool towards him. I shut my eyes and drifted with my hands out in front of me for a few seconds, until he took hold of my fingers and pulled me in gently. I was relieved he was wearing a normal, male swim suit (instead of one of those icky Speedos) because he sat me on his lap and pulled me against him. Forcing myself to relax against him, I concentrated on the soothing water swirling around me with the tiny bubbles that hot tubs always seem to have with or with out the jets on. I shut my eyes and let my head loll to one side, and sighed a happy sigh. I imagined the man I was leaning against was strong, protective, and loving, as well as sharing, and joyous…..not, over protective, sadistic, and evil.   
He planted a kiss on my shoulder and breathed in to my neck. I imagined the minty freshness of his breath and the security of his embrace.   
"You're being," another kiss on the shoulder, "oddly cooperative, Kagome," kiss on the neck, "is everything alright?"   
No, I was tired and cranky that he shattered my little fantasy.   
"I'm exhausted, Naraku." I sighed tiredly.   
He gave me a hard, long kiss on the neck. If he was hoping I'd moan or something in response, he was going to be sorely disappointed. I was already fighting the urge to retch. I was _not_ going to play this little game to that extent. It would kill me.  
I was also, at the moment, praying really hard he wouldn't give me a hicky.   
"mmgh," I groaned, my breath caught in my throat as a sign I was fighting the urge to scream. "Naraku, will you _please_ stop that? You're going to bruise my neck!"   
He withdrew as I pushed him away from me. "It's a possessive mark, Kagome." He ran his hands down my arms lightly, making me jump.  
"It also aches like a bitch." I hissed. The memory of the last mark he made on my neck came back to me. I had received a lot of funny looks at school, and I had had to wear turtle necks so my mother wouldn't notice.  
"Watch your language, Kagome." He whispered and ran his tongue up the side of my ear. I squirmed and screwed up my eyes.   
"Eww!" I exclaimed, "Cut that out!!" I shivered uncontrollably and then huddled myself together.  
"You're not being very much fun, you know." He planted another kiss on my head.   
"Have I ever??" I whispered, the fight quickly whooshing out of me and leaving me weak and alone.  
"Of course." His hand brushed my thigh, startling me again and bringing back nightmares.   
"Please, not tonight. I would really like to get to bed." I begged while screwing up my eyes in attempt to make everything go away.   
"Not yet. But no more playing, I promise." He settled me back against him.   
Playing. He calls it playing. Torture, cruel and unusual punishment, or nightmare provoking games defined it more closely.   
Perfectly.   
  
                      
  
I believe I may have dropped off again because the next time I opened my eyes, it was very dark and I was dry and dressed in silky material. It actually took me a moment or two to orient myself and recall where I was. It was dark. I was in a bed. That much I figured out, and once I established that, all of the memories of how ever long ago came flooding back to me, fast enough that I didn't acknowledge them at all, I just knew. I then had to find out where I was in Naraku's house…and who had dressed me. As soon as I had that question, terror filled me. Naraku was not above the law, and he knew that, too, sort of, but I wouldn't have exactly put it passed him to dress me himself. Images and nightmares of him running his hands over me as he made extra movements to button the shirt and slide up the pants made me squeak in a horrified manner and scrunch my body up into the fetal position unconsciously.    
I was now terrified to the point that I simply could not go to sleep until I had all of the answers. Slipping out of bed, I stumbled around to the thin line of dim light coming from under the door. Feeling the wooden double doors, I ran my hand around until I found the door latch.

Locked.

I was locked in a bedroom, in the dark of night, dressed in clothes I had not worn when I arrived, after being perversely harassed by the most vindictive and sadistic bastard born on this planet.   
I tried the door again and rattled at it uselessly. Fear welled up inside of me like a great water balloon until I was whimpering uncontrollably as I started to pull at the latch in attempt to yank it off or something. It wasn't long before I was pounding on the door and screaming that I be released right that instant until I collapsed into a sobbing heap on the floor. I cried out all of my tears about my tiredness, my insecurity, my loneliness, my weakness, and my confusions. All my emotions drained out of me with my tears until I was just a tired body lying on the floor in front of a locked door. I breathed deeply calmed myself down and then the door started to open. Well, it tried to open, but I was in the way so if bumped against me.   
"Miss Kagome?" It was Kanna this time.   
"Huh?" I said sounding _so_ smart.  
"Are you alright?" her voice was completely devoid of any emotion but I answered with her question in mind.  
"Since when have you been concerned for my welfare, Kanna?"   
"Naraku wishes to know if you are ok."   
"Ah, well then in that case, tell him I'm perfectly fine." I snapped bitterly, hiccupping.   
She bowed emotionlessly and turned to leave.   
"Kanna," I called. Wordlessly she turned around. "Who dressed me?" I asked.  
"I did."   
I nodded, relief and tranquility settled around me. "Thank you."  
She bowed again and soundlessly padded away.  
She didn't lock me in.

I was glad.

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I know I ended on kind of a depressed-ish note, but I'm hoping that the next chapter will be a tiny bit more upbeat. I have an overall idea to where the fic is going, I'm just not sure how it's going to get there.

Cheers, and Review, please!

-Kirara  
 =.=


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